Farm Animal Veterinarians’ Knowledge and Attitudes toward Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use in the Republic of Serbia
Jovana Vidović,
Dragica Stojanović,
Petra Cagnardi,
Nebojša Kladar,
Olga Horvat,
Ivana Ćirković,
Katarina Bijelić,
Nenad Stojanac,
Zorana Kovačević
Affiliations
Jovana Vidović
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 8, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Dragica Stojanović
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 8, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Petra Cagnardi
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20122 Milan, Italy
Nebojša Kladar
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Olga Horvat
Department of Pharmacology Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Ivana Ćirković
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Dr Subotica 8, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Katarina Bijelić
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Nenad Stojanac
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 8, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Zorana Kovačević
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 8, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered one of the most prevalent global health issues in both veterinarian and human medicine. This complex problem requires a “One Health” approach with the cooperation of all healthcare sectors, as well as agriculture, finance, and consumers. We conducted a survey with the objective to assess the knowledge and attitudes of farm animal veterinarians toward AMR and antimicrobial use in the Republic of Serbia with a small focus on mastitis therapy. A total of 110 respondents completed the questionnaire, which represents a response rate of 27.3%. The majority of our respondents (n = 102, 92.7%) completely agreed that AMR currently represents severe concern in the health sector. Unfortunately, less than one-third (n = 34, 30.9%) of the respondents had only heard about antimicrobial stewardship. Participants showed a positive attitude toward prudent antimicrobial use and were open to solutions to the AMR crisis. We noticed a certain gap between farm veterinarians’ desire to improve and perform better in daily practice, while at the same time feeling like they did not have enough guidance, help, and resources.
