LAUSR

OBJECTIVE Antimicrobial consumption surveillance is a useful tool for informing antimicrobial resistance control strategies and risk analysis. The present study was carried out to evaluate the consumption trends of antimicrobials for veterinary use in food-producing animals in Cameroon from 2014 to 2019. METHODS Data on quantities of classes of active substances were collected from the records of the technical authorization to import veterinary drugs of suppliers' invoices at the Ministry of Livestock (MINEPIA) while animal population data was collected from the FAO-Stat database. RESULTS The study revealed that 217.67 tonnes of antimicrobials (by weight of active substance) were imported during the 6-year period, an average of 36.28 ± 10.11 tonnes per year. Tetracyclines (31.71%), sulfonamides (23.84%), quinolones (11.11%) and bêta-lactams (10.17 were the most commonly imported classes of antimicrobials. As for the importance of veterinary antimicrobials to human medicine, critically important antimicrobial (34.3%), Reserve (4.6%) and Watch (25.5%) groups as classified by the WHO AWaRe Categorization were imported. Overall, a mean of 5.24 ± 1.40 mg/PCU (Population Correction Unit) was used in all food-producing animals during the six-year period. However, the mean quantity of antimicrobials adjusted by animal biomass was highest in poultry (213.32 ± 50.26 mg/kg) followed by pigs (63.04 ± 18.87 mg/kg), bovine (4.11 ± 2.20 mg/kg), Sheep (0.83 ± 0.43 mg/kg) and Goats (0.47 ± 0.24 mg/kg). CONCLUSION Strict surveillance systems of antimicrobial consumption in the country are vital to optimize control strategies. The monitoring of importation data of veterinary antimicrobial products could be useful for Sub-Saharan African countries to effectively quantify consumption and estimate trends for antimicrobial usage.