4 things your school can do to celebrate World AMR Awareness Week
World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) will be celebrated around the world from the 18th to the 24th November. This blog explains why schools should celebrate World AMR Awareness Week, and outlines 4 easy ways you can do so.
Why should we celebrate WAAW?
World AMR Awareness Week is an excellent opportunity to promote a healthy school and highlight the role we can all play in responding to antimicrobial resistance.
When you think of the term 'Healthy School' you might think of physical fitness, healthy eating, good mental health or resilience. However, another key aspect is preventing the school community from contracting and passing on infections. Autumn and winter can be a tough time for school staff and families as winter bugs get passed around, potentially resulting in both children and staff getting ill.
Reducing the number of infection outbreaks can be critical in reducing absenteeism, but it is also important for another significant reason: to respond to the threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been referenced by some as the 'silent pandemic' because it is associated with severe public health consequences.
The good news is, with a little knowledge and a few small actions, schools can reduce the risk of infection outbreaks and support efforts to respond to antimicrobial resistance.
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobial medicines include those used to treat infections caused by microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Each antimicrobial targets one specific type of microbe, for example, antibiotics only target bacteria and do not work on viruses.
Microbes are organisms, and so, just like other organisms, they evolve in order to survive. Microbes replicate incredibly fast, with some doubling their population size every 20 minutes! This means they are able to evolve very quickly to develop defences which reduce or stop the effectiveness of antimicrobial medicines. When we overuse antimicrobials, it gives the microbes more opportunities to develop resistance. We are not able to produce new drugs quick enough to keep up with the speed the microbes evolve.
Why is antimicrobial resistance a problem?
If the microbes that have caused your infection have developed resistance, it limits the medicines available to treat it. In the worst cases, it means that infections that used to be treatable can no longer be treated. Microbes that have developed resistance can be passed between people, rendering the medicines we use to prevent infections during operations and childbirth, and treat life threatening infections, less effective or useless.
A recent piece of research in the Lancet estimates there were 4·95 million deaths associated with bacterial AMR in 2019, and this number is predicted to rise to 10 million deaths per year in less than 30 years' time.
What can my school do?
By encouraging students to create a healthy school, you are also part of the work to slow down AMR!
We all have a role to play to slow down AMR, and schools are crucial. By preventing and controlling the transmission of infections as part of creating a healthy school, we help reduce the spread of potentially resistant infections and the use of antimicrobials.
World AMR Awareness Week is a brilliant way to introduce the topic of antimicrobial resistance, while continuing to promote behaviours that can reduce the spread of infections. Here's how:
1) Teach students to practice good hand and respiratory hygiene
Use e-Bug hand and respiratory hygiene lesson plans for EYFS-KS4 and share these with your schools' RSHE leads. These lesson plans are mapped to the National Curriculum and include engaging experiments that can be used during lessons or assemblies.
EY Hand Hygiene Lesson
KS1 Hand Hygiene Lesson
KS2 Hand Hygiene Lesson
KS3 Hand Hygiene Lesson
KS4 Hand Hygiene Lesson
EY Respiratory Hygiene Lesson
KS1 Respiratory Hygiene Lesson
KS2 Respiratory Hygiene Lesson
KS3 Respiratory Hygiene Lesson
KS4 Respiratory Hygiene Lesson
2) Place posters around your school to remind students of key behaviours
Print and display e-Bug hand and respiratory hygiene posters in shared spaces to prompt hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes. Use the e-Bug antimicrobial resistance poster to promote greater awareness of this important issue amongst students.
Hand Washing poster
Respiratory Hygiene poster
Antimicrobial Resistance poster
3) Hold an assembly on what antimicrobial resistance is and why it matters
Raise awareness amongst your students on antimicrobial resistance. You could consider reaching out to a school nurse, or local GP to come and speak in an assembly on antibiotics for your students. Consider providing opportunities for staff and students to make pledges to become an antibiotic guardian by visiting https://antibioticguardian.com/ .
4) Learn more about how you can support students to respond to AMR
Explore our Trainers section! We have materials aimed at educators to learn more about antimicrobial resistance and how to use our resources to engage your students in understanding this global challenge.