Uzbekistan strengthens food safety capacity through laboratory training
28/02/2015 01:00
Uzbekistan strengthens food safety capacity through laboratory training
28/02/2015 01:00
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- WHO/Europe, through its Food Safety programme and Uzbekistan Country Office, conducted a 4-day training session in laboratory techniques aimed at combating foodborne diseases and related antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
AMR has become an international public health problem, and Uzbekistan is taking a crucial step towards addressing this concern by establishing tools to monitor and better understand the role of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in the local food chain.
This training served as the initial component of a survey aiming to provide insight on the occurrence of AMR in the foodborne pathogenic bacteria salmonella and campylobacter to humans and poultry in Uzbekistan. This survey will help Uzbekistan strengthen its food safety capacity by launching surveillance and control of foodborne pathogens.
The laboratory training sessions, which were held at the Research Institute of Epidemiology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Tashkent, accomplished two major goals; the establishment of diagnostics for campylobacter, and the establishment of testing for AMR in salmonella and campylobacter. Currently, the occurrence of campylobacter in poultry and the frequency of campylobacteriosis are unknown.
The training demonstrated preliminary success in isolating campylobacter from both human and poultry for the first time in Uzbekistan, which is very encouraging for the continuation of the survey. This survey is partly funded by the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) and is part of a larger project funded by USAID in Uzbekistan that will provide important information for further food safety work in the country.
Training was led by Dr Jaap Wagenaar and Dr Koen Verstappen, two experts from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In addition to the laboratory training, Dr Wagenaar delivered a seminar on the epidemiology of salmonella and campylobacter and related AMR to a large audience that included representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture.
The seminar promoted awareness of food safety issues and highlighted the importance of intersectoral collaboration between health and the agricultural sectors for cost-efficient prevention and control of foodborne diseases. Both participants and organizers expressed satisfaction with the training and enthusiasm regarding future opportunities to participate in the strengthening of Uzbekistan’s food safety capacity.
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