Hanoi, 2 December 2022: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Viet Nam are encouraging individuals and groups to ‘take the pledge’ and commit
to taking action to protect human and animal health by stopping misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.
In the Western Pacific region, which includes Viet Nam, an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) ‘pledge’ campaign commenced in 2017 with the theme - “Stewards for the Future: One Region, One Movement to Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance”. The movement aims to mobilize collective
action and personal responsibility to fight AMR and protect the health and safety of individuals, communities and also future generations.
The ongoing campaign has since secured over 220,000 online pledges from countries right across the Region, with WHO and FAO continuing to call on people to ‘take the pledge’ to create a regional movement of up to one million committed individuals, helping to stop overuse and misuse of antimicrobials. People are encouraged to sign up online and pledge to join the “Stewards for the Future campaign: Race to a million pledges to use antibiotics responsibly”
Participants are signing up to take the pledge
At an event this week at Green One UN House, WHO Representative in Viet Nam Dr Angela Pratt and FAO Representative in Viet Nam Dr Rémi Nono Womdim highlighted the dangers posed by antimicrobial resistance and encouraged action among the general public, health workers, animal owners and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
Dr Angela Pratt at the event encouraging people to “take the pledge”
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites resist the effects of medications, making common infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Antimicrobials are used to fight diseases in humans, animals and plants and include antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and anti-parasitic medicines.