There is an urgent need to raise public awareness about antimicrobial resistance to help prevent the spread of drug-resistant infections, experts said ahead of the launch of the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) Thursday, November 18. Speaking during a virtual event on Tuesday, members of a coalition of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) called for promotion of best practices among farmers, health workers, animal health professionals, policy makers as well as the general public. The coalition consists of the World Health Organization (WHO), Food Agricultural Organization (FAO), and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Dr Haileyesus Getahun, Director of Global Coordination and Partnership on Antimicrobial Resistance at WHO, said concerted efforts involving all stakeholders would help draw attention to “this global unhealthy challenge”. “Over the last decade we have seen that AMR mostly affects humans,” he said, explaining that misuse of antibiotics has seen a significant rise in bacterial resistance. “Some people call Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) a silent pandemic. I call it an active volcano that is ongoing. Antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites try to change overtime and stop responding to antimicrobials (drugs that are used against disease-causing bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites,” he said. He also noted that more people around the world have in recent times used antibiotics due to Covid-19, increasing the risk of abuse. Dr Sarah Paulin, a technical officer in the AMR division at WHO whose primary job is to support countries in developing and sustainably implementing national action plans on AMR, said antimicrobial resistance is a serious issue that needs everyone’s attention. What causes antimicrobial resistance? “We should all be AMR awareness champions in our communities,” she said, underlining in particular the role of doctors who prescribe medicine and veterinarians who treat animals. She cited some of the drivers of antimicrobial resistance, including human antimicrobial misuse or overuse, environment contamination, health-care transmission, suboptimal rapid diagnostics, suboptimal vaccination, suboptimal dosing (including from substandard and falsified drugs), and mass drug administration human health. According to WHO, “antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi.” AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death, it adds. “As a result, the medicines become ineffective and infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of spreading to others.” “Antimicrobials - including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics - are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants. Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”, WHO says. It also notes that none of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in clinical development sufficiently addresses the problem of drug resistance in the world’s most dangerous bacteria. ‘Go Blue’ campaign Lianne Gonsalves, in charge of AMR awareness and campaigns at WHO, called on influencers to humanise AMR activities using the resources available like digital assets, photos stories and websites. She said this would help bring needed global visibility to AMR. Gonsales also called on all stakeholders to participate in the ‘Go Blue’ campaign for AMR, which kicked off Thursday. The one-week campaign seeks to raise awareness about antimicrobial resistance. The AMR is making diseases like TB, HIV/Aids and malaria more difficult to treat or even incurable, experts say, citing the example of drug resistant malaria in Rwanda. Some of the ways to prevent drug resistant infections include hand-washing, immunisation, safe food preparation, preventing infections, and taking antimicrobials as prescribed (full dose) by a health professional. People are also advised not to take leftover antimicrobials.
