Today is world health day (WHD). A day set aside by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness globally about a major public health issue and to prioritize areas of health to deal with. Globally WHD is celebrated annually on April the 7th. The theme of this year's celebration is "Antimicrobial resistance", the slogan is "no action today, no cure tomorrow" some would say 'Act today to Heal tomorrow'.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microorganisms which were previously sensitive to drugs become insensitive to those drugs. These organisms which could be bacteria, viruses or parasites become insensitive to conventional treatments. This makes them difficult to treat and cause them to spread to more people and persist world wide. Some of the microbes are called "Superbugs" because they are resistant to multiple drugs, a very common example is Mycobacterium tuberculosis and staphylococcus aureus. According to the WHO there are about 440,000 new cases of Multidrug resistant Tuberculosis annually and 150,000 deaths. The mechanism may be by adaptation and could be caused by misuse of antibiotics or improper use of antibiotics. Some common ways this could happen would be by innappropriate use;
1. Using antibiotics for viral infections such as the common cold
2.Not complying with drug dosage and length of time the patient is to take the drugs
Imagine the loss gains of development of antibiotics by rapidly spreading AMR. Think of a world where we can no longer treat infections such as Tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, parasitic infections and even a common wound infection! That is the world we do not want to go back to. A world devoid of effective antimicrobial agents is what we would have if we do not act today.
What can we do today to heal tomorrow?? Individually we can:
1. Prevent infections, by common means such as proper hand washing, covering our coughs and sneezes
2. Practice hygiene and adequate sanitation, healthy eating and lifestyle
3. Rational use of antibiotics
Collectively we can help by addressing WHO's 6 points identified for action in the 2011 WHD Policy package:
1. Surveillance of AMR and use
2. Rational drug use and regulations
3. Animal husbandry regulations
4. Infection control and prevention in health facilities
5. Enabling Innovative technology
6. Multisectorial and multidisciplinary actions, nationally coordinated and involving civil society.
More on WHO's work and information on AMR can be gleaned from the following websites
http://www.who.int/patientsafety/GPSC_amr_combat_antim_res_en.pdf
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/index.html
ACT TODAY!!!!
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