Society Champions mark World Antimicrobial Awareness Week across the globe
15 November 2024
This year’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) takes place 18–24 November. The week takes place annually to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and encourage best practice among the public, One Health stakeholders and policymakers.
To help with this awareness, mark WAAW and also promote the Society’s Knocking Out AMR project, the Society asked its Champions to come forward with activity ideas for their local communities. Champions were given the flexibility to put forward proposals that worked best for their communities and, as a result, a great variety of activities have been planned for the week.
Many of the Champions chose to organise outreach activities with school students. Akpan Mbuotidem Friday (with the support of Igiku Victory Sokomba and Ogar Michael Oshen), Bruno Silvester Lopes and Neil Ian Lumanlan are collaborating with each other internationally – organising the same interactive activities with secondary school students in Nigeria, the UK and the Philippines! Amaka Awanye has opted for a similar approach, with both practical sessions and talks for senior secondary school students in Nigeria. Whilst Yinka Somorin is planning lectures, games and art in schools across Accra, Ghana.
Other Champions looked to target young people and professionals. Michael Ukwuru is organising a community forum aimed at the public and a quiz about AMR for students and faculty members at The Federal Polytechnic Idah, Nigeria. Linda Oyama opted to engage people from 8–70 years of age, in a project to design an AMR symbol. Enas Newire and Blessing Oyedemi Mbaebie are planning a week of activities at Middlesex University, UK, including visits from schools and an experiment with participants to find out about AMR bacteria living on themselves or everyday surfaces. Damilola Adesuyi opted to build on a project he was already working on: setting up a group of AMR Youth Champions in Nigeria, by organising a training session and setting up AMR clubs in secondary schools.
Finally, some Champions used the opportunity to spread the message with other stakeholders. Katelyn Mroczek, with the support of Thiru Vanniasinkam, decided to produce posters and brochures aimed at healthcare professionals and the public in Australia. Sara Albagir Abdalla is planning an online symposium for healthcare professionals, policymakers and people working or studying in the field of microbiology in Sudan. While Tamègnon Victorien Dougnon and Philippe Sessou are organising a webinar on ‘Research and Development of New Antimicrobial Molecules in Benin’ aimed at researchers, healthcare professionals, livestock farmers and students.
There will be lots of information from our Champions being posted via social media during the week, and the Society has created a calendar of the events taking place to help you keep track of what’s going on (see below).
In addition to the activities the Society is funding Champions to undertake, many Champions have used their language skills to provide translations for the new ‘What is Antimicrobial Resistance and how can we tackle it?’ video, which was launched in the run up to WAAW. Subtitles have been provided in Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Hindi, Italian, Marathi, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish and Swahili – a great demonstration of the diversity of our Champions! Instructions on how to view the subtitles in different languages are provided underneath the video on YouTube.
Look out for blogs from our Champions over the coming weeks and months, which will include insights about the activities they organised!