World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and Use Antibiotics Wisely

Bumisuka.com – World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and Use Antibiotics Wisely. World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is a global campaign that is celebrated for one week from 18 to 24 November.

The goal is to increase awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance. In addition, the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week campaign also encourages the public and all stakeholders to play a role in reducing the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance is referred to as a public health threat. If left unchecked, antimicrobial resistance makes otherwise easy-to-treat diseases difficult to treat as all antimicrobial drugs decrease their effectiveness.

1. What is an antimicrobial?

The World Health Organization (WHO) explains that antimicrobials are drugs used to prevent, treat and treat infections in humans, animals and plants.

Which includes antimicrobial drugs, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics. However, antimicrobials are currently becoming ineffective.

Quoting an explanation from the Ministry of Health, since the discovery of antimicrobials, millions of people have been able to avoid disease. The ability of antibiotics to treat disease has led to an increase in the use of antibiotics as now, where drugs are widely abused, both in humans, animals and plants. As a result of the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, it causes a more serious problem, namely the problem of antimicrobial resistance.

2. What is antimicrobial resistance?

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease explains that bacteria, fungi, and other microbes can develop resistance or resistance to antimicrobials.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs naturally when microorganisms exposed to antimicrobial drugs try to adapt in order to survive. Microorganisms naturally develop resistance, but the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in humans and animals accelerates the development of resistance.

WHO also stated that antimicrobial resistance occurs due to misuse and overuse in humans, animals and plants, thereby accelerating the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in the world. Therefore, antimicrobial resistance is the greatest global threat to health, food security and development today.

3. Danger of antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is spreading rapidly around the world. As a result, the disease becomes more severe, making it more difficult to treat or even impossible to treat. In addition, antimicrobial resistance also increases the risk of death.

Quoting an explanation from the WebMD page, the researchers estimated that antibacterial resistance caused 1.27 million people to die in 2019. Adding to the explanation from GAVI, the existence of antimicrobial resistance causes the number of drugs that “work” to decrease. That is, a simple bacterial infection becomes life-threatening again.

4. It takes a concerted effort to prevent antimicrobial resistance

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antimicrobial resistance has the potential to affect everyone at every stage of life.

In addition, antibiotic resistance can also affect all sectors, from the health sector, animal health, to agriculture. Therefore, antibiotic resistance is one of the most urgent public health problems.

WHO states that antimicrobial resistance is a complex challenge, but can be overcome. A One Health approach to the problem of antimicrobial resistance can help save lives, preserve antimicrobials, and protect the future from drug-resistant pathogens.

5. How to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance

Antibiotic resistance is further accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Therefore, it is important to prevent and control the spread of antibiotic resistance, namely by:

• Use antibiotics only if prescribed by a doctor.
• Do not ask for antibiotics if not needed.
• Use antibiotics as directed by the doctor.
• Do not share antibiotics and do not use leftover antibiotics.
• Prevent the spread of infection by diligently washing your hands with soap and running water.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick if possible.
• Prepare food hygienically and choose food that is produced without the use of antibiotics as growth promoters or disease prevention in healthy animals.

Antimicrobials are very useful drugs when used properly. If antimicrobials, such as antibiotics, are used carelessly, this can cause germs to become drug-resistant so that the disease becomes more severe and difficult to treat. Therefore, it is important to use antimicrobials, including antibiotics, wisely so that antimicrobials remain effective in treating disease.