As World Antibiotic Awareness Week began on Monday 13 November 2017, the United Nations, through its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), called for responsible use of antibiotics in humans and animals to reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
World Antibiotic Awareness Week advocates for responsible use of antibiotics in humans and animals to reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
“Antibiotic resistance is a global crisis that we cannot ignore,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO. “If we don’t tackle this threat with strong, coordinated action, antimicrobial resistance will take us back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”
This year’s theme is to seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional before taking antibiotics. For food and agriculture, this means that one of the best ways to tackle it, is to diminish the need of antimicrobials at farm settings through the promotion of good practices in livestock production, aquaculture farming and crop production.
Wilshire Johnson, Chief Registrar, Pharmacy Board, Sierra Leone explained about the overuse of antibiotic in the country.
“Antibiotics are often overprescribed by physicians and veterinarians and overused by the public. Where they can be bought for human or animal use without a prescription, the emergence and spread of resistance is made worse. Examples of misuse include taking antibiotics for viral infections like colds and flu, and using them as animal growth promoters on farms or in aquaculture,” Johnson stated.
Johnson continued that despite it is an over the counter drug, people should not use it without the prescription of a physician adding that the overuse will cause more harm than good.
“Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Infections affecting people including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning and gonorrhoea and animals alike are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.” Johnson said.
“The overuse of antimicrobials blunts their effectiveness,” Johnson added. “We must reduce their misuse. Use antibiotics wisely to combat rising drug resistance.”
Ibrahim Mannah, a pharmacist, said that the consumption of antibiotics exceeds the consumption of other drugs.
“Like in human health, veterinary medicine has tremendously progressed thanks to antibiotics. Preserving their efficacy and availability through their responsible use associated with good husbandry and prevention practices, is therefore essential to preserve animal health and welfare,” highlights Dr Monique Eloit, Director-General of OIE. SV/14/11
By Sylvia Villa
Wednesday November 15, 2017.
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