IFIF was invited to join the FAO-led Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Multi-Stakeholder Partnership as part of the private sector cluster in 2022. The Partnership Platform was formally launched on 18 November 2022, during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, marking an important step towards more coordination, communication, and collaboration among a wide range of global stakeholders to address AMR.
Since then, IFIF has actively contributed by bringing its science-based work on nutritional innovation into the Partnership. IFIF highlights that adequate animal nutrition is a critical yet often overlooked solution to reduce the need for antimicrobials in livestock systems. The feed sector plays a pivotal role in supporting optimal animal health and resilience through well-balanced, high-quality feed formulations, safe processing, and access to specialty feed ingredients.
In 2024 and 2025, IFIF strengthened this contribution by:
- Engaging with low- and middle-income country Members to assess how adequate nutrition can be better integrated into National Action Plans (NAPs) on AMR.
- Submitting formal input to the consultation on the Global Action Plan on AMR, urging greater recognition of nutrition’s role in disease prevention and reduced antimicrobial use.
- Supporting the establishment of the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against Antimicrobial Resistance (IPEA), to ensure science-based and policy-relevant approaches are adopted across human, animal, and environmental health sectors.
- Updating the IFIF Nutritional Innovation Statement (2025) to reflect new evidence, reinforce the role of nutrition in animal resilience, and provide clear guidance for engagement with regulators and policymakers.
IFIF’s highlights that nutrition is a cornerstone of AMR mitigation. Adequate diets, combined with good hygiene practices and proper housing, not only maintain animal health and welfare but also strengthen gut health—a vital factor in protecting animals against stressors such as pathogens or heat stress. By reducing disease incidence and improving resilience, nutritional innovation helps minimize the reliance on antimicrobials, supporting both animal well-being and sustainable livestock production.
Through the Partnership, IFIF continues to ensure that animal feed and nutrition are recognized as essential elements of the One Health approachto tackling AMR, working closely with FAO, WOAH, WHO, and international chain partners.
About the Partnership
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been working together for decades to address risks at the human, animal, plant, and environment interface. Since 2018, the three agencies joined forces as a Tripartite to strengthen their long-standing partnership, with a renewed focus on tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from a One Health approach.
The engagement of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in this work is also essential to support governments, civil society, and the private sector in addressing AMR risks related to the environmental sector. In 2022, the Tripartite became formally the Quadripartite as it welcomed UNEP in the alliance to accelerate coordinated strategy on human, animal and ecosystem health.
To advance a One Health response to AMR, the AMR Quadripartitee Joint Secretariat (QJS) was established with liaison officers based in FAO, OIE, UNEP and WHO. Its role is to coordinate and support the Quadripartite and collaborate with other United Nations agencies and stakeholders.
The Quadripartite’s goal is to preserve antimicrobial efficacy and ensure sustainable and equitable access to antimicrobials for responsible and prudent use in human, animal and plant health, contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and implementing further the Global Action Plan on AMR (GAP). To achieve this goal, the objectives are:
- To optimize the production and use of antimicrobials along the whole life cycle from research and development to disposal; and
- To decrease the incidence of infection in humans, animals, and plants to reduce the development and spread of AMR.
For more information visit: https://www.fao.org/antimicrobial-resistance/quadripartite/the-platform/en/
