USDA provides nearly $5 Million to support antimicrobial resistance dashboard tools

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced eight awards totaling nearly $5 million to maintain, expand, and utilize previously developed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) dashboard tools. These awards will help advance scientific knowledge around AMR through partnerships with Cornell University, Iowa State University, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Texas Tech University, University of Minnesota, and University of Washington.

All AMR dashboards developed with this funding are required to include data protections similar to the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act. Once created, APHIS will use the dashboards to monitor trends in AMR patterns, detect emerging resistance profiles, and better understand relationships between antimicrobial use, animal health management practices, and AMR.

These public-private partnerships will improve access to information on AMR in domesticated animals, including livestock, poultry, and companion animals. They will focus on:

• Securely tracking the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant microbes in domesticated animals.
• Building an understanding of dynamics and frequencies of resistance emergence in microbial populations.
• Developing a communication, coordination, and collaboration strategy for AMR dashboard tools.