A qualitative content analysis exploring the portrayal of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in UK smallholding print media.

Background: Antibiotic use (ABU) practices and attitudes around antibiotic resistance (ABR) are relatively unstudied for smallholders in the UK. Due to differences in outlook, goals and farming methods, these factors may differ from commercial farmers. To gain insight into how the issues of ABU and ABR are communicated amongst and for smallholders, we completed a qualitative content analysis of smallholding print media.

Evaluating methods to explore antibiotic use on smallholding pig farms in peri-urban Kenya.

Background: Understanding patterns and practices of antibiotic use (ABU) in livestock is crucial to make informed recommendations for improved antibiotic stewardship and to measure the impact of interventions aimed at reducing inappropriate ABU. In the absence of a unified tool to determine ABU at the farm level, we aimed to enhance the understanding of methodological approaches used to explore ABU by evaluating the strengths and limitations of four different methods on smallholding pig farms in a peri-urban area of Nairobi, Kenya.

Methods: ABU collection methods were trialed in parallel over one month on 13 farms.

A qualitative exploration of the enablers of and barriers to conformance with antibiotic withdrawal periods on smallholding, peri-urban pig farms in Kiambu County, Kenya.

Non-conformance with antibiotic withdrawal period guidelines represents a food safety concern, with potential for antibiotic toxicities and allergic reactions as well as selecting for antibiotic resistance. In the Kenyan domestic pig market, conformance with antibiotic withdrawal periods is not a requirement of government legislation and evidence suggests that antibiotic residues may frequently be above recommended limits. In this study, we sought to explore enablers of and barriers to conformance with antibiotic withdrawal periods for pig farms supplying a local independent abattoir in peri-urban Nairobi.