World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), running from 18-24 November this year, aims to improve awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and encourage the responsible use of antibiotics by the general public, health workers and policymakers.
Antimicrobial resistance develops when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change and adapt to antibiotics over time, making them more resistant to drug treatments. As a result, infections become harder to treat and the risk of severe illness and death increases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that antimicrobial resistance is one of the top ten threats to global health, causing 1.3 million deaths in 2019 alone from bacterial AMR.
A new global study launched during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, commissioned by the Global Respiratory Infection Partnership and Reckitt, shows a high dependence on antibiotics for treating respiratory conditions like sore throats, which is adding to the global issue of AMR.
The Sore Throat & Antibiotic Resistance (STAR) study found that over 50% of people who took part in the survey had taken antibiotics for a respiratory condition, such as a sore throat, in the past six months, even though antibiotics are not an effective treatment for 90% of sore throats.
The study also revealed that many people don’t know how to treat a sore throat, which means people take antibiotics when they are not needed, leading to antibiotic overuse. Of those surveyed, 45% of adults under 35 years of age did not know how to treat respiratory conditions without antibiotics.
In an effort to address this, the theme of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week this year is ‘Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together’, calling for all sectors to work together to only use antibiotics where necessary to help prevent antimicrobial resistance.
To get involved, people are encouraged to ‘go blue for AMR’, a colour campaign introduced during WAAW last year, and wear blue during WAAW events, and also share their experiences of AMR and ways to prevent it.
A series of virtual events is also taking place throughout the week, including WHO’s ‘Back to the future: inspiring the next generation on hand hygiene’ webinar, highlighting the importance of hand hygiene to reduce infection and AMR in healthcare settings.
Also included in the programme is a two-day global webinar, ‘Infections in surgery global’, with more than 100 speakers taking part to discuss prevention and management of infections before, during and after surgery.