Disseminating Innovative Solutions for Antibiotic Resistance Management

The DISARM thematic network (Disseminating Innovative Solutions for Antibiotic Resistance Management) is focused on disseminating best practices from innovative farms and research on how to reduce antibiotic resistance in livestock farming. Antibiotic resistance management is not only important to farming, it can also lead to reduced effectiveness of antibiotics in treating humans. Tackling antibiotic resistance is a major strategic challenge for European livestock farmers, an industry worth over 145billion euros. Evidence shows that rates of antibiotic use and resistance vary greatly from farm to farm and, that with the adoption of appropriate innovative on farm management practices that both the use of antibiotics and the development of resistance can be reduced. Disseminating these effective management practices is at the heart of the DISARM project, which will work with farmers, vets, advisors, industry and researchers to identify and disseminate widely the most cost effective and beneficial strategies. This will be delivered by:
* Developing a 600 member multi-actor Community of Practice to share, debate and disseminate the most promising strategies to reduce antibiotic resistance in livestock farming;
* Producing 10 best practice guides, supported by 100 best practice abstracts and 100 short videos to explain how farms have successfully adopted innovative practices to reduce antibiotic resistance;
* Working with 40 farms (in 8 countries) to develop multi-actor farm health plans with at least 30 of these being used as case studies to show other farms how working with their vet, feed or equipment suppliers and advisory services can help them adopt a set of best practices suited to their farm;
* Run 80 events to disseminate best practices, hosted by farmers or research centres, and speak at 60 further industry events;
* Deliver 3 annual reports on the remaining challenges with antibiotic resistance which research or policy developments need to address.