This event featured panellists Professor Claire Heffernan, Director of the London International Development Centre and the GCRF Stunting Hub, and Dr Theo Kanellos, Director, Commercial and Strategic Alliances at Zoetis. It was moderated by Professor Robyn Alders of Chatham House, and took place on 25 November 2020.

Watch the recording here:

PANELLISTS' KEY MESSAGES
  • Healthy chickens, equal healthy food (poultry and eggs). It is critical for farmers to have the appropriate prophylactic (e.g. early vaccination schemes, control of parasites, etc.) and surveillance measures backed and supported by focused trainings for the region to avoid issues (e.g. chickens with food-borne pathogens, etc.)
  • Rationalising the use of antibiotics in farms by the implementation of appropriate prophylactic (e.g. vaccination against Escherichia coli) and improving farm (and off farm, abattoir etc.) biosecurity. These are key to reducing the AMR risks.
  • The poultry industry is rich in data, but it is essential to transform it with valuable insights by co-operating with the different players/companies in the whole agricultural and food chains. In particular for the developing countries, further data insights are needed around wet markets and in bringing transparency on the cold chain.
  • Wicked problems need wicked solutions: We need new tools to better understand and unpack complexity: poultry production can play a key role in ameliorating the risk of child stunting but we need to build a deeper and a more joined-up evidence base.
  • Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater: The role of poultry keeping in environmental enteric dysfunction in children is disputed and will likely depend on behaviours at the household level.
  • The tip of the iceberg: the impact of environmental AMR and the role of the poultry sector in LMIC countries is largely unknown. In environments with often weak regulatory frameworks: technological solutions may be the best way forward.