Curbing the spread of AMR has top priority in the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of ministers. The main objective of the BALTOHOP project, is to promote antimicrobial stewardship, primarily within the public health and veterinary/food sectors, and also the environmental sector in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines (such as antibiotics), making infections harder to treat and much more dangerous. The WHO recognizes AMR as one of the greatest global threats to public and animal health, as well as to food production.

One Health is an approach across these sectors and disciplines recognizing the interconnections between people, animals, plants and our shared environment. AMR is a One Health problem, where resistant microorganisms or resistance genes are transmitted between humans, animals and plants, often via the environment.

The Nordic Region has different and unique AMR challenges compared to other regions in the world, as the AMR spread is among the lowest in Europe. The Nordic countries are in the forefront in this field and have a long history of working nationally across the public health and veterinary/food sectors in promoting antimicrobial stewardship.

BALTOHOP will not only support Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in improving their capacity to sustainably implement their national One Health action plans, but also develop new insights, data, results and experiences enabling the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordic Council to further strengthen their efforts against AMR from a One Health perspective.

 

Learn more about AMR from NordForsk supported projects

• Wastewater Treatment plants as a trusted Source of Timely information on antimicrobial resistance threat (TruSTme)
• Tracking of Antimicrobial Resistant Genes in Environmental reservoirs in the Nordic Countries