Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 12, 2019 (SKNIS): Minister responsible for Health and Agriculture, Honourable Eugene Hamilton, announced that with the construction of a national veterinary diagnostic laboratory, St. Kitts and Nevis will advance its fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The Honourable Minister said this during the opening ceremony of the Progressive Management Pathway (PMP) for AMR workshop at the Ocean Terrace Inn on Monday, November 12, 2019.
Minister Hamilton highlighted that “this antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and security.”
To combat this problem, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will “use the Progressive Management Pathway for AMR to guide the development and operationalise a multi-sector National Action Plan (NAP) to combat AMR,” said Honourable Hamilton.
“We in St. Kitts and Nevis are committed, not only to the AMR fight but to food safety, food security and the health and welfare of our people,” he added.
The national veterinary diagnostic laboratory, which is expected to be commissioned in 2021, will “conduct and map antimicrobial resistance and test our sick animals where possible to determine the most effective and prudent antibiotics to treat their specific infection,” said Minister Hamilton.
Minister Hamilton noted that with the construction of this facility, “St. Kitts and Nevis will be a leader in the region in testing and determining the most suitable antibiotic products to be able to treat animals.”
