The AMR Tripartite organizations - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) - are pleased to announce that the theme of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) 2021 will be ‘Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance’. The overarching slogan of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week continues to be 'Antimicrobials: Handle with Care'. WAAW is celebrated from 18-24 November every year.
Spread awareness, stop resistance
The WAAW 2021 campaign will encourage stakeholders, including policymakers, health care providers, and the general public to recognize that everyone can be an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness champion. Participants are encouraged to spread awareness about what AMR is, share stories about its consequences, and demonstrate how the actions of individuals, families, professionals, and communities affect the spread of AMR. Campaign resources will be available in the coming weeks.
Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants. All around the world, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites are changing, and no longer respond to the medicines used to treat the infections they cause. This antimicrobial resistance makes infections harder to treat, which increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
Antimicrobial resistance emerges naturally, usually through genetic changes. However, the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in humans, livestock and agriculture has accelerated the process, as has lack of clean water and sanitation, and inadequate infection prevention and control.
The AMR Tripartite organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and WHO, work together each year to coordinate the global WAAW campaign. AMR is a complex problem affecting human, animal, plant and environmental health. Therefore, addressing AMR requires a holistic and multisectoral approach – referred to as a One Health approach. By designing and implementing multi-sectoral programmes, policies, legislation and research across human, terrestrial and aquatic animal and plant health, food and feed production and the environment, AMR can be effectively addressed to achieve better One Health outcomes.