The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), Danida Alumni Network Nigeria ( DAN - NG) and other stakeholders, have commenced effort on strengthening of traceability of food and drug, antimicrobial resistance and climate change.
The initiative kicked off at a two-day training workshop in Abuja yesterday organised by
the Danida Alumni Network Nigeria ( DAN -NG) in collaboration with Danida Fellowship Centre and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, with the theme, " Strenghtening Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance, Biosafety and Climate- Smart Agriculture Through A One Health Approach In Nigeria."
Speaking at the event, the NAFDAC representative and the National Coordinator of the Danida Alumni Network Nigeria ( DAN - NG),Sidika Jumoke Kamaru, said part of the challenges identified is that Nigerian farmers have low awareness about antimicrobial resistance.
"Take for instance, even within house policymakers, if you talk about antimicrobial resistance, some people will be like, what? heard people today, rather than saying AMR, somebody will say, you have anti-malaria."
Kamaru said the workshop was on strengthening antimicrobial resistance surveillance, bio-safety, and climate-smart agriculture through One Health Approach in Nigeria.
"So, we identify those topics, take for instance on traceability, on prevention control, prevention of infectious diseases, or trans-border diseases, as we're getting to specifically, agricultural sector.
"We are looking at how we can come together and look at local solutions.
"Nigeria has a population of over 200 million people, so we can't take policies from countries that are just like 5 million and say, yes, we want to implement it within our country.
"The strategy is, let's look for innovative approach to communication, to information. Yes, the researchers have showed that these are the problems.
"We want to leverage on all of that, the research findings. Then, on our own, we will do like a SWOT analysis to know the strengths, weakness, the opportunity, and the threats within those framework of the things that we're putting in."
The national coordinator said the programme is about a strategy sector cooperation that involves NAFDAC, Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, with the Danish Veterinary Food Administration.
"So, these three organizations came together to partner to solve some very specific problems within the country."
Earlier, an alumni of DAN - NG, Ezeudegbunam Eucheria Ebere, tasked Nigerians and farmers on use of farm inputs, like fertilizer and pesticide, which she warned, could result to build up of Antimicrobial Resistance.
She said that many Nigerians are not aware that resistance may have been built up over the years as they have been washed with different elements.
Ebere said the association recognised the impact of human, animal, plants, and ecosystems as interconnected and so does encourage collaboration among health and agriculture environments and other sectors to prevent and manage spread.
She said that agriculture is a major component of the one health because it is the way in which animals live and are treated.
"With the goal being to help, protect, promote, divert, and assist, we talk about animals and humans. Animals have impact issues. And also, the role of agriculture in one health.
"Resistance that had been built by some of us by old ages, by struggle, by so many things. What we don't know is that we have been washed by different elements. We buy fish, we buy dry foods that we don't know have been preserved by a sniper.
Antimicrobial Resistance is a serious global health issue where microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to become resistant to the medicines used to treat them, making infections difficult to cure.
Another alumnus and a deputy director in the Office of International Strategic Partnership and Trade Office, NAFDAC, Mrs Sarah Ajayi, said they're using the platform to drive innovative change within the country
She explained that the Danida Fellowship is a fellowship of people who were privileged to be nominated by their organisations to be trained by Danida Fellowship Network in Denmark.
"Some people were trained in Denmark, others were trained in Tanzania, Tunisia.
And this network of diverse professionals made of changemakers who are willing to build a map on this planet that they pass through the air, that they gain training and they want a part of the environment to show that they are actually trying to make a change from the normal," she added