Analysis of the five-year antimicrobial consumption in food-producing animals in Ethiopia: implications for human and animal health

Antimicrobials play critical roles in the preventing, controlling, and treating of infectious diseases worldwide. Accurate quantification and understanding of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) patterns are essential for designing effective antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mitigation strategies, which are limited in Ethiopia. This study was designed to quantify AMC in food-producing animals in Ethiopia between 2018 and 2022, assess associated costs, and evaluate the implications for human and animal health. Seven classes of antimicrobials were consumed. Among these, tetracyclines (70.6%) were the predominant class consumed. Solutions or suspensions for injection (87.7%) were the most common antimicrobial dosage forms. In five years, the country consumed approximately 575.6 tons of antimicrobial active ingredients (AAIs), which cost about 41.4 million USD. The average consumption was 115.1 ± 10.1 tons per year. Most of them were classified as critically important in veterinary medicine (85.7%) or human medicine (62.5%), and in the access (50.0%) watch (43.8%), and reserve (6.3%) categories. The average consumption of AAIs was 7.2 mg/kg of biomass of food-producing animals. In conclusion, considerable amounts of essential antimicrobials were consumed, resulting in significant financial losses for their purchase in the country. Therefore, measures that reduce the need for antimicrobials must be enhanced by designing and implementing appropriate stewardship programs.