To round off WHO Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021, OHBP members participated in the Antimicrobial Stewardship tournament with players from the UK, India, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia and more. The AMS game involved teams of 3-4 players competing against each other to answer questions about antibiotics, bacteria, antimicrobial stewardship, and general knowledge of good hygiene and other practices to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
The game was developed by the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme, (CwPAMS), led by Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) and Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) in partnership with Focus Games Ltd. CwPAMS collaborated with its partners in Africa to ensure that the game is relevant and effective.
As this year’s WHO World Antimicrobial Awareness Week theme was Go Blue for AMR: Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance, participants at the game were invited to wear blue and use blue backgrounds to show support for this message.
Some Key Facts from the Antimicrobial Stewardship Game:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to medicines.
- AMR means that antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult (or impossible) to treat.
- AMR increases the risk of spreading disease, severe illness and death.
Vaccination can help prevent both viral and bacterial infections.
- People who are vaccinated are less likely to get infections.
- If they do not get infected, healthcare practitioners will not have to see them or prescribe antimicrobials.
You can stop antimicrobial resistance spreading by:
- Regular hand washing and preparing food hygienically
- Practicing safe sex
- Keeping vaccination up to date
- Only using antibiotics prescribed by a certified health professional
- Only using antibiotics when you need them for bacterial infections
- Always following your healthcare practitioner/GPs advice when using antibiotics
- Never sharing or using leftover antibiotics
- Only giving antibiotics to animals with veterinary supervision
Read more about AMR and the OHBP: https://ohbp.org/2021/11/18/antibiotics-you-ohbp-work-around-antibiotics-amr-world-antimicrobial-awareness-week-2021/
WHO World Antimicrobial Awareness Week: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-antimicrobial-awareness-week/2021