Dear Headteacher/teacher/Community leader,

Thank you for your interest to register and feedback on your school’s activities following engagement with Antibiotic Guardian Schools Ambassadors

Improved hygiene in schools/communities reduces the transmission of infection, reduces illness in young people and their parents and resulting absenteeism.

Taking antibiotics encourages harmful bacteria that live inside individuals to become resistant. That means that antibiotics may not work when they are really needed. This puts children and their families at risk of a more severe or longer illness.

As part of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), an international and national public health awareness week held between 18-24 November each year, you are invited to register for your school/community group to partner with an Antibiotic Guardian Schools Ambassador in order to deliver a short education session for children/young adults including microbes, hygiene, infection prevention and antibiotics. Alternatively, the Ambassador could provide a virtual lesson via teleconference. Your local Ambassador will also be able to share a comprehensive toolkit of lesson planning resources, for your school to plan its own lessons if you would prefer. Finally, your local Ambassador will circulate a one-page article on hygiene, self-care, managing/preventing infections and tackling antimicrobial resistance. We encourage you to distribute this in your school newsletter or similar during WAAW 2021, even if you are unable to facilitate a teaching session this year.

The Antibiotic Guardian Schools Ambassadors lesson planning toolkit makes use of evidence-based UK Health Security Agency resources, for example e-Bug, Keep Antibiotics Working and Antibiotic Guardian, to educate young people.

How will this benefit your school/community?

• Potential improvement in hygiene and subsequent illness in schools/communities
• Use evidence-based resources linked to the English National Curriculum
• Receive expert advice and experience on public health topics
• Understand the roles of Healthcare Professionals in tackling antibiotic resistance
• Support application for Healthy Schools status

What to do now?
• Register your school’s/community’s involvement below.

For more general information about WAAW contact espaur@phe.gov.uk

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