Country visit to Kosovo* to discuss the One Health country roadmap on antimicrobial resistance
From 22-23 May a team of experts from ECDC, the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety and the European Food Safety Authority completed a visit to Kosovo to support the country’s efforts to develop the One Health Country Roadmap on antimicrobial resistance. The mission also involved specialists from Epiconcept and the Integrated Quality Laboratory Services.
The meeting followed a One Health country visit conducted in October 2023, and included key national authorities from Kosovo's Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development. The primary focus of the two-day discussion was the development of a One Health comprehensive roadmap to enhance the AMR response in the country.
Experts met to kick start the ‘translation’ of the recommendations of the previous country visit into a One Health Country Roadmap on AMR covering the human health, animal health, food safety, and patient safety sectors. The roadmap is expected to feature long-term, prioritised, and measurable actions to address the gaps identified during the country visit in October 2023.
The roadmap will also incorporate a follow-up mechanism for monitoring progress and evaluating outcomes, and actions will be aligned with the EU's legal requirements, facilitating Kosovo's EU enlargement negotiations by ensuring compliance with the EU acquis**.
The meeting covered governance, intersectoral collaboration, involvement of the environmental sector, and public awareness campaigns to promote prudent use of antimicrobials. Parallel discussions on animal health and food safety in the human health sector addressed each area of recommendations in those areas.
The visit concluded with a debriefing session that summarised the intense technical discussions and outlined next steps. The discussions on the roadmap and associated activities will continue at the national level and in coordination with other international partners and donors (such as WHO/Europe, WOAH, FAO), so that one roadmap is approved by the authorities for mobilising financial and technical assistance, including from the EU.
Background
ECDC is supporting countries in the Western Balkans and Türkiye to prepare them to participate in the Centre’s activities, as part of a project funded by the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission.
Work Stream 2 of the currently ongoing ECDC accession support project focuses on the advancement of a ‘One-Health’ approach against AMR in the Western Balkans. It is the sixth ECDC project with external financial assistance by the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations under the Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
** The European Union (EU) acquis is the collection of common rights and obligations that constitute the body of EU law, and is incorporated into the legal systems of EU Member States.
