World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) is a global initiative aimed at fostering awareness and comprehension of AMR while advocating best practices among One Health stakeholders to mitigate the emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant infections.
WAAW is observed annually from November 13 to 24.
The theme for WAAW 2023, “Preventing antimicrobial resistance together,” echoes the 2022 theme, emphasizing the pervasive threat AMR poses to humans, animals, plants, and the environment, necessitating collective action.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial agents.
Due to drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents lose their effectiveness, making it challenging or impossible to treat infections, thereby elevating the risk of disease transmission, severe illness, and mortality.
This year’s theme underscores the imperative for cross-sector collaboration to safeguard the efficacy of antimicrobials.
To effectively fight AMR, all areas must use antimicrobials wisely and correctly, take steps to lower the number of infections that happen, and follow the right way to get rid of the waste that contains antimicrobials.
Antibiotics serve as a crucial defense against bacterial infections that impact individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Antibiotic resistance affects a minimum of 2.8 million U.S. citizens annually, posing a global menace to public health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has regrettably set back progress in the battle against antimicrobial resistance.
Considering that antibiotics are very important for surgeries, organ transplants, and chemotherapy, it is important to stop people from using them too much for bacterial infections and not enough for viral infections.
Such practices contribute to increased antibiotic resistance and complications like Clostridioides difficile diarrhea (C. diff). Infections caused by resistant bacteria escalate the financial and logistical challenges associated with treating once-easily manageable infections.
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In alignment with “World Antibiotic Awareness Week,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction Coalition are collaborating to enhance awareness among the public and healthcare professionals regarding the judicious use of antibiotics.
Moreover, the Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction Coalition, in collaboration with various healthcare entities, consumer groups, health plans, quality improvement organizations, and state and local public health organizations,
And pharmaceutical companies are actively educating health professionals and consumers about the appropriate utilization of antibiotics.
These collaborative endeavors are aimed at increasing awareness about the risks associated with antibiotic overuse and misuse and striving to prevent the proliferation and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
