World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week observed in Ho 

This year’s World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) has been observed in Ho with a renewed call on the public to abstain from self-medication.

The week (November 18-24) was marked jointly by the Commonwealth Partnership for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS), University College London Hospital (UCLH), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), and Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), with talks and other activities to create more public awareness on antimicrobial use, misuse and abuse.

It was on theme: Educate Advocate and Act Now. 

Antimicrobials are substances that kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites.

They are used to treat and prevent infectious diseases in humans and animals.

At the Antenatal Clinic of HMH on Thursday (November 21), a member of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, Dr Selasie Adoboe, said there was the need to implement policies to restrict easy access to antimicrobials to prevent their misuse and abuse.

She revealed no new antimicrobials were produced by manufactures for some time now, and that highlighted the need to preserve the present stock of antimicrobials at the health facilities.

Dr Adoboe said the misuse of the antimicrobials had contributed to mortalities in the wards in recent time, with regard to viral, bacterial and parasitic cases, including HIV (viral), tuberculosis (bacterial), and malaria (parasitic).

She cited chloroquine, for instance, which was used to prevent and treat malaria in the past, but was not used any longer because it had developed resistance to the parasite due to its misuse by members of the public who bought it off the counter.

Dr Adoboe maintained the antimicrobials were not meant to be sold without prescription from a competent medical authority.

She said the campaign, ‘Take Back Unwanted Medicines’ was still ongoing and entreated patients to return their unwanted medicines to the health facilities and dispose of them in the appropriate bins, rather than throwing them away in the neighbourhood. 

Principal Physician Assistant, Stella Donkor-Agboh pointed out the combinations of un-prescribed antimicrobials to enhance treatment was more expensive and could turn dreadful for the user.

It also undermined the government’s efforts to provide quality healthcare to the public, she pointed out.

Mrs Donkor-Agboh explained Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurred when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer responded to antimicrobial agents. 

As a result of drug resistance, Mrs Donkor-Agboh said antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents had the potential of becoming ineffective to infections, making it difficult or impossible to treat, raising the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death.