World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021
The World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is hosted by the World Health Organization. The week is celebrated to raise global awareness of antibiotic resistance or antimicrobial resistance. It emphasizes the importance of adhering to healthcare practices to avoid the spread of drug resistant diseases. The Week is celebrated between November 18 and November 24.
What is antibiotic resistance?
It is the ability of the microbe to defend itself from getting killed by the antibiotic medicines. This makes treating antibiotic diseases more difficult.
What is the theme of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021?
“Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance”
What is the need for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week?
In 2016, more than 4.9 lakh people developed multi – drug resistant Tuberculosis globally. Also, drug resistance is starting to complicate the fight against malaria and HIV. Without effective antimicrobials, chemotherapy, organ transplantation and surgeries would be compromised. The antimicrobial resistance increases cost of health care. Eventually it leads to antibiotic apocalypse. Therefore, it is essential to mark World Antimicrobial Awareness week to identify the issues and spread awareness.
What is the history of Antimicrobial Awareness Week?
The concept of marking World Antimicrobial Awareness Week was first proposed in Europe. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) convened meetings to explore the issue. Later, they came up with European Antibiotics Awareness Day.
What are Kerala’s plans on World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021?
Kerala has been one of the high performing states in India in the health sector. The Kerala State Government launched “Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Action Plan” in 2018. It was the first of its kind in India. The plan aimed to make Kerala antibiotic literate. The progress of the plan slowed down due to COVID-19. In 2021, the Kerala Government is to speed up the plan.
What is the most difficult challenge in administering antimicrobe?
The life processes of different microbes are different. Thus, the drugs that block one of the life processes is effective against other. Also, the same drug will not work against microbes of different groups. For instance, the bacteria makes cell wall to protect themselves. The Penicillin drug blocks the process of cell wall building. With this, the bacterial defense system is killed and eventually the bacteria die. However, human cells do not have cell walls. Thus, penicillin does not have such effect on human cells.
