Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a global public health concern that could lead to millions of deaths if nothing is done. As a One Health problematic, it needs to be addressed both in human, animal and environmental sectors. Vietnam, with a population of nearly 100 million, is one of the fastest growing economies and demographics in Southeast Asia. The chicken production sector is undergoing a major transformation. The average growth rate of the chicken population is 6% per year and farms are intensifying. Antibiotic misuse and overuse in chicken production is common in Vietnam as products are easily accessible and that the sector is poorly regulated. As a result, many of the bacteria isolated from chicken farms are multi-drug resistant. Strategies exist to tackle antibiotic resistance but they are implemented with difficulties. The objective of this thesis is to co-develop with the stakeholders of the poultry supply chain and of the veterinary drug value chain, strategies to reduce antibiotic use in chicken production in Vietnam. To answer to this objective, we have adopted a transdisciplinary, systemic and participatory approach.After an exploratory study to understand the context in which our study takes place, we have built a typology of antibiotic use practices among the different chicken production systems. We identified three chicken production systems: household, family commercial farms and intensive farms. The decision-making process of farmers varied according to the production system. During the exploratory study, we also identified changes in the regulatory framework and tried to understand how these changes are understood, acknowledged and applied by the stakeholders of the veterinary drug value chain. After mapping the chain and identifying stakeholder’s posture regarding the regulations we have explored the barriers and motivations to implement them. Major barriers included the lack of capacity of the authorities to enforce the regulations, a mismatch between theory and practices, the lack of knowledge on the new regulations and the high proportion of small-scale farms. Because farmers will have no choice but to adapt to the changes in regulations, we then explored how farmers at a local level are dealing with the necessity to reduce antibiotic use. We identified local solutions such as the use of locally-handmade probiotics, knowledge exchange, and organization of farmers in cooperatives to overcome the barriers to ABU reduction. Finally, all the identified barriers and levers were put in to context through the organization of workshops aimed at co-build strategies. The workshops were organized at the local level with stakeholders of the chicken and veterinary value chain. Strategies aiming to improve training and communication on biosecurity and organic production were co-developed.Within this work, we identified barriers and levers to the reduction of antibiotic use in chicken production in Vietnam. Our study emphasizes the need to adopt a systemic and participatory approaches to co-develop local-based solutions using bottom-up approaches. Strategies and solutions must then be disseminated to policy makers for a sustainable change in practice. We also identified the development of quality products value chain in Vietnam that could act as a lever to change of practice but should be done by taking into consideration the most vulnerable stakeholders. Further studies must be conducted in this direction.