November 16
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week
Celebrated annually, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week aims to raise awareness of global antimicrobial resistance and promote best practices among the general public, healthcare professionals and policy makers to prevent the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
The global action plan to address the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance was approved at the sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the key objectives of the plan is to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education, and training.
Antibiotics are running out for fighting diseases, and one of the main reasons is their use in animal production. New and more resistant bacteria are emerging, and we need to take action or we won't be able to use antibiotics anymore. Every year, 700,000 people die worldwide, and their killers are particularly resistant bacteria that no antibiotics can defeat. According to a recent study, the number of victims could be ten times higher by 2050. In other words, if we don't develop new strong drugs, up to 10 million people will die every year. This document reveals how we got into this deadlock. It's a story of negligence, greed, and shortsightedness that has rendered antibiotics, which used to be a clear difference between life and death, completely ineffective. It's a scientific thriller about disappointed doctors on the front lines, rebellious scientists, patients struggling with deadly diseases, and diplomats searching for a recipe to save the world.
Watch the following documentary, not for the faint-hearted.
