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European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) and World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) 18-24 November 2023

November 17, 2023

 

EAAD and WAAW aim to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – one of the leading risks to human health.

Increasing resistance is making infections more difficult to treat – prolonging hospital stays and increasing morbidity/mortality. A recent analysis of worldwide AMR in 2019 attributed ~1.27 million deaths to bacterial resistance. The UK govt. commissioned “Review on Antimicrobial Resistance” estimates this could grow to 10 million deaths a year by 2050 unless action is taken. A staggering one person every three seconds.

But antimicrobials also underpin much of modern medicine: if they lose their effectiveness, many routine therapies could become too dangerous to perform:

  • Immunosuppressing treatments such as chemotherapy could become life-threatening.
  • Over 500,000 surgeries could become life-threatening.
    (including joint replacements, c-sections, colorectal surgeries and gall bladder removals)
  • Surgical site infections would double.

Antimicrobial use drives antimicrobial resistance – and inappropriate use accelerates resistance. Everyone needs to get involved to prevent antimicrobial resistance. Small, individual changes add up and can help to avert this ‘silent pandemic’.

What can you do?