Hyderabad: On the occasion of the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), major landmarks in the city were illuminated in blue on Wednesday as part of the ‘Go Blue’ campaign initiated by the World Health Organization.
Arvind Kumar, special general secretary of the Department of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) of Telangana, went to Twitter and shared photos of the landmarks filled with blue light. He said Hyderabad had reaffirmed its commitment to the WHO’s antimicrobial resistance ‘Go Blue’ campaign by highlighting these important landmarks.
In May 2015, a global action plan to tackle AMR was endorsed at the World Health Assembly,
supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the world
Organization for Animal Health (EIA).
The first objective of the plan is to ‘improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training’. To help achieve this goal, FAO, EIA and the World Health Organization (WHO) (collectively known as the Tripartite) have been supporting WAAW since 2015, together with the general public, students, policymakers and professionals from various sectors around the world.
WAAW Campaign Goals
• To make AMR a globally recognized issue with the involvement of all sectors – human, animal, plant and environment, a ‘One Health approach’.
• To raise awareness of the need to protect antimicrobial efficacy through prudent and responsible
use.
• To increase recognition of the roles played by individuals, governments, civic organizations, and
human, animal, environmental and plant health, as well as agronomists, must all play a role
antimicrobial resistance.
• To encourage behavioral change towards the prudent use of antimicrobials in all relevant sectors
and conveys the message that simple actions can make a big difference.
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is celebrated every year from November 18-24. The 2021 theme, ‘Spread awareness, stop resistance’, calls on One Health stakeholders, policymakers, healthcare providers and the general public to be antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness champions.
Source: The Siasat Daily