World Antimicrobial Awareness Week
World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week runs from 18 to 24 November. During the week, Nottinghamshire Healthcare will be raising awareness of measures we can all take to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Antibiotic Guardian and Keep Antibiotics Working campaigns, European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) and World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week are major public health initiatives that aim to encourage responsible use of antibiotics and improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobials - including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics - are medicines used to treat infections in humans, animals and plants. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to antimicrobials. As a result, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective.
This antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerges naturally, usually through genetic changes. However, the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials have accelerated the development of antimicrobial resistance, as have a lack of clean water and sanitation and inadequate infection prevention and control. This makes infections harder to treat, which increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
Worldwide pollution of the environment with antimicrobial containing waste and runoff from manufacturing sites, farms, hospitals and other sources is a key driver in the development, transmission and spread of antimicrobial resistance to humans, animals and plants.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of today's biggest global health threats, directly responsible for 1.3 million deaths and contributes to 5 million deaths every year.
Antimicrobial resistance threatens the core of patient care. Without effective antibiotics, routine medical procedures like your appendix or tonsils being removed, hip replacements, caesarean sections, dental work and chemotherapy could become extremely risky due to the threat of untreatable infections.
Antimicrobial resistance can affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Similar to COVID-19, drug resistant infections know no borders. Developing a new antibiotic can take 10-15 years and cost more than 1 billion USD. We all need to act now to safeguard our antimicrobials for the future.
To find out more, watch this short film 'What would a world without antibiotics be like' - BBC Ideas
There are simple things everyone can do, to help make sure antibiotics work for you and for future generations. To find out more follow the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) 'Keep Antibiotics Working' campaign .
Talk to your family and friends about antibiotic resistance, and the fact that we don't always need antibiotics when we are ill.
Complete this quiz from Antibiotic Guardian with your family to check your understanding of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance.
Explore the UKHSA e-bug programme resources with your family. These include games, quizzes and animated films to teach your children / grandchildren about microbes, antibiotics, hand and food hygiene and much more.
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