Healthcare Scientists & European Antibiotic Awareness Day (18 Nov 2017)

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today.

Relevance to you:  without effective antibiotics many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations, even chemotherapy and animal health all rely on access to antibiotics that work.

What can you: To slow resistance we need to cut the unnecessary use of antibiotics and use diagnostic stewardship to help identify infections rapidly. We invite Healthcare scientists to become Antibiotic Guardians and champion diagnostic stewardship for public health.

Call to action: 

Choose one simple pledge about how you’ll make better use of antibiotics and help save these vital medicines from becoming obsolete.

Pledge on https://antibioticguardian.com/ to:

• To improve detection of infection and antimicrobial resistance determination, I will evaluate at least one diagnostic test used within my laboratory between November 2017 and March 2018
• To promote understanding of antibiotic resistance during world antibiotic awareness week, I will host/co-host an event for patients, public or scientists
• As part of my contribution to tackle AMR, I will participate in collaborative antibiotic resistance research
• To contribute to patient care, I will undertake antibiotic resistance testing to the best of my abilities and to the highest quality
• To increase my understanding of antimicrobial resistance I will attend a conference, lectures or undertake self-led learning between November 2017 and March 2018
• Or create your own pledge

There are centrally hosted educational materials that can be used locally, and are freely available online in printer friendly formats.

The EAAD/AG resources are available freely here.
The Keep Antibiotics Working resources are available freely here

EAAD – the European public health initiative to raise awareness about the threat to public health of antibiotic resistance and the importance of prudent antibiotic use.  The latest data confirms that across the European Union the number of patients infected by resistant bacteria is increasing and that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health.  Prudent use of antibiotics can help stop resistant bacteria from developing and help keep antibiotics effective for the use of future generations.

The scientists and researcher pledges were developed by PHE in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Scientific Officer, NHS England

Post by:

Vicki Chalker

Head of the Respiratory and Vaccine Preventable Bacteria Reference Unit, PHE