The World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2017 events kicked off in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, I.R. of Iran

The World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2017 events kicked off in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

The World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2017 events kicked off in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and threatening our ability to treat

common infectious diseases. Infections affecting people– including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning and gonorrhea – and animals alike are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious global threat: every year, at least 700,000 people around the world die from infections with superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics – and this is predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050.

Helping health care professionals improve the way they prescribe antibiotics and improving the way patients take antibiotics helps keep everyone healthy now, helps fight antibiotic resistance, and ensures that lifesaving antibiotics will be available for future generations.

This year’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week (13-19 November 2017), run by the World Health Organization (WHO), has an overall theme of the campaign, Antibiotics: Handle with Care, that reflects the overarching message that antibiotics are a precious resource and should be preserved.

For the first time, the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZAUMS) marks the World Antibiotic Awareness Week since its establishment in 2015. The Antibiotic Awareness week, 2017 events was launched by a workshop on : "Antimicrobial Resistance- A Global and Regional Threat- We need to act now!" in Boo-Ali Infectious Diseases Specialty Hospital, Zahedan, Iran. The event was organized by Vice Chancellor for Health Office. The workshop aimed to address the possibilities for reducing the irrational use of antibiotics in hospitals, which will consider proposals for interventions for the rational use of antibiotics and the most common pathogens and antibiotic treatment of exacerbations. A group of infectious diseases specialists, nurses, medical students, specialty residents, public health professionals and other healthcare workers participated in the workshop. Similar workshops will be held in other teaching and non-teaching hospitals, as part of the world Antibiotic Awareness week activities.

The Zahedan University of Medical Sciences will be promoting messages from WHO. Some of the campaign materials posted on the WHO website

http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-antibiotic-awareness-week/2017/posters/en/

have been translated into Persian and has been distributed to all hospitals and healthcare units affiliated with ZAUMS.

Campaign material in Persian

The University is organizing some other events to highlight the issue of antibiotic resistance. As part of the "Antibiotic Guardian Campaign", we are aiming to recruit and train Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) who pledge to help raise the profile of antibiotic resistance.

A press conference was held regarding “antimicrobial resistance” in Vice Chancellor for Health Conference Hall. Vice Chancellors for Health and Food and Drug, Deputy Director General of Veterinary Department, addressed the event, discussing different aspects of antimicrobial resistance both in human and livestock and the challenges we are facing to tackle the issue. Local reporters and journalists, and news agency representatives participated in the meeting.