Friday, November 21, 2014

Global coordinated action plan against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) needed by 2015 - WHO

Contributed by: Dr. Akilesh Ramasamy& Dr. Tamhankar
“We must act urgently. The world is heading for a post-antibiotic era which will be devastating in this age of emerging infectious diseases. If we do not use antibiotics rationally, we will lose the power to fight common infections and minor injuries. We need to step up efforts to prevent antimicrobial resistance and change how we prescribe and use antibiotics,” - Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia. (Source: WHO)
The World Health Organization called upon Member States of the South-East Asia Region to scale up national action plans to combat this daunting public health threat at a four-day regional meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Jaipur. WHO has prioritized antimicrobial resistance issues due to its vast health, political and economic implications.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Antibiotic Crisis Management: Lessons from energy crisis can teach us a thing or two

Compiled by: Dr. Akilesh & Dr. Tamhankar

Lessons learnt from other fields applied to antibiotic resistance.- Ramanan Laxminarayan, a noted Economist at TedMed
"It has been a long time since people died of untreatable bacterial infections and the prospect of returning to that world is worrying." - Ramanan Laxminarayan

Monday, November 17, 2014

Antibiotic Awareness Week - India. 15th to 22nd November, 2014

Contributed by: Dr. Akilesh & Dr. Tamhankar 
ITS TIME TO AWAKE, BE THE CHANGE
AWAKEAWAKE (Awareness Week on Antibiotic Knowledge and Education) is an initiative of EARS, a non profit, non Govt organization to create week long awarness compaign (15th to 22rd November, 2014) in India.


The objective of this endeavour is:
  • Educating public and healthcare providers about rational use of antibiotics
  • Spreading awareness about the rising antimicrobial resistance
  • Promoting hygiene and sanitation as a step towards stopping spread of resistance
What can you do ?
  • If you are a healthcare provider, take a pledge that you would not prescribe antibiotics irrationally. You can organize seminars / talks / send SMS / Emails to your colleagues and peers to avoid antibiotic abuse.
  • If you are a patient / caregiver / non-medico you can take a pledge that you would NOT permit self-prescriptions of antibiotics. Also patient / caregivers should make it a point to discuss with your healthcare provider whenever being prescribed antibiotics.