What is World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week?
World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week is an annual global campaign held and promoted by the United Nations (UN) from November 18 to 24. Its primary aim is to enhance awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance and promote best practices to combat the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
History and Importance
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and the like no longer respond to medicines, disinfectants, and other chemicals that aim to control them. This makes it harder to treat and address infections in animals, people, and produce, thus increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and even death.
With antimicrobial resistance becoming a food safety, health, and animal concern, it has slowly transformed into a global issue. The ongoing threat of AMR is recognized as one of the most serious health challenges facing humanity today. It is projected that by 2050, drug-resistant infections could lead to 10 million deaths annually if not addressed effectively.
To address it, the UN launched the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week in 2015 when different member countries adopted a Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance. Initially focused on antibiotic resistance, this week was focused on training, educating, and communicating to people in different countries, sectors, and age groups about antimicrobial resistance and how to address it. In 2023, this week was then called World AMR Awareness Week to include more instances of antimicrobial resistance by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
Each World AMR Week has a unique theme yearly to represent the different struggles and concerns of the public of the time. This theme will be the guiding force for possible initiatives and awareness efforts. For 2024, the theme is “Educate. Advocate. Act now.” This was chosen based on an online survey answered by key members of the human, animal, plant, and environmental health sectors around the world.
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How to Celebrate World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week at Work
Celebrating World AMR Awareness Week, especially in workplace settings, serves as a critical platform for mobilizing action against this global health crisis. Awareness campaigns can help staff understand how their actions contribute to the larger issue of AMR and encourage them to adopt best practices not only for their personal safety, but also for the surrounding others. This also helps workers be more aware of different food and health concerns and risks.
Here are several effective strategies to engage your workplace during this important week:
Encourage Resource Sharing
Access resources from organizations like the WHO or the US CDC that provide toolkits for World AMR Awareness Week. These often include materials for promoting awareness and guidelines for activities. To streamline operations, centralize these documents in a dedicated space such as a cloud storage solution.
Host Educational Workshops and Provide Relevant Materials
Organize workshops or seminars featuring healthcare professionals or AMR experts to discuss the implications of AMR and the importance of responsible antimicrobial use. Spread these out throughout the week with different formats and themes. Make sure to support these sessions with digital learning materials that can be accessed on any device anytime and anywhere, and be assured workers are up-to-date and aware of different AMR risks, concerns, and best practices.
Initiate Engaging and Interactive Activities
With interactive awareness efforts such as contests and games, you can better engage your employees while spreading important messages. This also helps ensure workers are better informed on AMR facts. It can also help to partner with local health departments or non-government organizations to organize community outreach programs focused on AMR awareness.
Utilize Monitoring Sensors
As bacteria, fungi, and viruses can linger in the air especially when resistant to drugs, it would be best to also promote the utilization of air quality monitoring sensors. Host educational sessions on their use and benefits for AMR, and how they can ensure workplace safety.
Promote the Use of Checklists and Forms
A checklist can be an effective tool for workplaces to celebrate World AMR Awareness Day by providing a structured approach to planning and executing activities. A digital checklist in particular offers many benefits, such as accessibility and ease of use. With the right checklist tool, you can plan your events seamlessly, keep track of issues and goals, ensure safety, manage resource utilization, and monitor and evaluate activities.
You can also promote the use of checklists among employees to ensure the necessary safety measures are followed when dealing with different bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This also helps keep a record of possible issues, all while keeping track that best practices are followed. Using checklists can also be continued past the event week, ensuring safety.
FAQs about World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week
The theme for World AMR Awareness Week last 2023 was “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together.” This emphasizes the need for collaboration across various sectors to effectively combat AMR, encouraging collective action and responsible use of antimicrobial products to preserve their efficacy and mitigate the emergence of drug-resistant infections.
Both World AMR Awareness Week and the US Antibiotic Awareness Week are held during the week of November 18 to 24, but World AMR Awareness Week is for a global audience. The latter also sheds light on general AMR, but is more focused on the US and its experiences. There are also similar weeks on antibiotic awareness set in the same week in Europe, Canada, and Australia.
By participating in World AMR Awareness Week, workplaces contribute to a larger global movement aimed at combating AMR. This involvement helps raise awareness, encourages responsible practices, and fosters collaboration among different sectors to address this critical health issue.
Leadership plays a critical role in promoting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness at work, influencing both organizational culture and employee engagement. Some ways leaders and employers can do so include the following:
- Setting the tone for employee engagement and project initiatives
- Providing support such as personnel and resources to different projects and employees
- Speaking up on behalf of employees who may be requesting additional resources and materials
- Facilitating discussions on AMR outside the awareness week
Roselin Manawis
