WHO Collaborating Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance in Foodborne Pathogens and Genomics
WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities or academies, which are designated by the Director-General to carry out activities in support of the Organization's programmes.
The Glo-Cab group at DTU Food, which was designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) in 2002, provides WHO with the evidence it needs to guide Member States in making policies and formulating strategies to control AMR in foodborne diseases. It also helps build capacity to improve AMR surveillance in countries across the world.
The Centre has supported WHO since 1999 with the inception of the WHO Global Foodborne Infections Network (GFN), formerly known as Global Salm-Surv (GSS), through various capacity-building activities. These have included the development of laboratory protocols and guidance, and training activities to strengthen countries’ surveillance and response systems for foodborne diseases and AMR.
In addition, the Centre supports WHO to improve the capacity of international, national and regional laboratories that participate in the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS). It assists in increasing knowledge and implementing guidance on AMR and foodborne disease surveillance.
While the WHO CC initially focused on antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens its focus expanded in 2016 to also cover genomics.
The current goals of the WHO CC include:
• To support WHO in capacity-building activities, including laboratory protocols, guidance, and training activities to strengthen countries' surveillance and response systems for foodborne diseases and antimicrobial resistance.
• To assist WHO in developing guidance and tools and implementing capacity-building activities to support countries to effectively implement next-generation sequencing as a diagnostic tool for foodborne diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance.
• To support WHO in improving the capacity of international and national/regional laboratories, primarily participating in the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS).
• To assist WHO in strengthening knowledge and implementing guidance on antimicrobial resistance and foodborne disease surveillance.
Contact: Rene Hendriksen rshe@food.dtu.dk