European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC)

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The European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project collects information on how antimicrobial medicines are used in animals across the European Union (EU). This type of information is essential to identify possible risk factors that could lead to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in animals.

The European Medicines Agency started this project in April 2010 following a request from the European Commission for the Agency to develop a harmonised approach for the collection and reporting of data on the use of antimicrobial agents in animals from EU Member States.

Reports

The Agency published the first report from this project in September 2011 covering the period 2005-2009. The report contains harmonised data of sales in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Agency published the second report from the project in October 2012. A total of 19 EU and European Economic Area (EEA) countries had submitted data on 2010 sales to the Agency.

The reports will be used by risk assessors and risk managers in Member States to inform antimicrobial policy and responsible use of antimicrobials.

Current activities

In 2013 ESVAC is collecting detailed and standardised data for 2012 following a call for data sent to 27 EU/EFA countries. Deadline for submission is 15th September 2013. The Agency is also planning the collection of consumption data by species.

Meetings

The Agency has held meetings on monitoring sales of veterinary antimicrobial agents in Europe, bringing together representatives of Member States and other stakeholders:

Any comments can be sent to esvac@ema.europa.eu.

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Document(s) Language Status First published Last updated Effective Date
Draft European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) reflection paper on collecting data on consumption of antimicrobial agents per animal species, on technical units of measurement and indicators for reporting consumption of antimicrobial agents in animals (English only) draft: consultation closed 19/12/2012    
European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) data collection protocol (English only)   20/04/2010 18/04/2013  
The ATCvet classification system (English only)   20/04/2010 24/03/2011  
European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) data collection form (template) (English only)   20/04/2010 18/04/2013  
Examples on how to fill in the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) data collection form (English only)   20/04/2010 29/03/2012  
Principles for ensuring the confidentiality of data supplied to the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Agent Consumption (ESVAC) project (English only)   24/03/2011    
European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) - 2nd annual network meeting 2012 - Agenda and summary (English only) adopted 20/02/2012 29/03/2012  
Presentation - European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption 2012 - Results and state of play (English only)   29/03/2012    
Workshop on collection of data on antimicrobial agents by species and on unit(s) of measurement (English only)   19/12/2011