Resist misusing your medicine
Last month the UK government’s then health secretary The´ rè se Coffey admitted she’d given antibiotics prescribed to her to one of her friends who was unwell.
It’s an admission that had medical professionals and scientists around the world yelling at their devices in despair, me included.
Sharing antibiotics with a friend may not sound like such a big deal, but it is.
First, it’s dangerous. Your friend could be allergic, or it could interact or interfere with other medicines they are taking.
Second, you’re unknowingly contributing to what the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development today – antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics are medicines used to treat bacterial infections. But they are also used to try to prevent certain people getting an infection in the first place. Such as people who have surgery. Or people who are immune-compromised because they are undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
Misuse of these life-saving medicines, by, for instance, sharing them with others, is one of the reasons antibiotics are becoming less effective.
When bacteria are exposed to levels of antibiotics that don’t kill them, they can become resistant, rendering those antibiotics useless in the future. Sometimes bacteria can pass their resistance on to other bacteria. According to the latest estimates, 1.2 million people died in 2019 as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.
This week is World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), a WHO-backed campaign that happens each year from November 18-24. Antimicrobial is the collective name for medicines used to treat infections caused by bacteria (antibiotics), viruses (antivirals), fungi (antifungals) and parasites (antiparasitics).
The point of WAAW is to raise awareness of the global threat of resistance and to encourage people to use antimicrobials more wisely.
This year’s theme is ‘‘Preventing resistance together’’ and here are two ways you can get involved from in New Zealand, by taking part in our ‘‘antibiotic amnesty’’.
First, have a rummage in your house and see if you’ve any old or unused antibiotics lying around. If you find any, please don’t toss them down the toilet or sink, or put them in your rubbish bin. That just helps create resistant bacteria in our environment. Instead, take your antibiotics to your local pharmacy, which will dispose of them for you.
Second, help spread the word about our antibiotic amnesty. You could even win a prize! All you need to do is make a video that shows why it’s important to dispose of old or unused antibiotics safely, or how to do this.
Upload your video to Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok before the end of the day this Thursday and share it with your friends and whā nau. Tag @namsipeg and use the hashtags #Aotearoa AntibioticAmnesty22 and #WAAW2022.
You can also send your video to namsipeg@gmail.com, and they’ll put it online for you. There are Prezzy cards to be won for the best video, most creative video, and for the video that’s garnered the most views by 6pm on Friday. For more info on antimicrobial resistance visit www.keepantibiotics working.nz.