As resistance grows to a wider range of drugs, WHO have broadened the focus of this campaign from antibiotics to all antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant infections. Poor medical prescribing practices and patient adherence to treatment also contribute. For example, antibiotics kill bacteria, but they cannot kill viral infections like colds and flu. Often they are incorrectly prescribed for those illnesses, or taken without proper medical oversight.

Learn more about AMR and how to fight it at the official WHO WAAW campaign page here

ESCMID is a proud participant in Value-Dx and stand with them in participating in this great initiative.They have released a new graphic just in time for WAAW 2020. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant infections. Using antibiotics against COVID-19 is only making AMR worse for the world. Always take antimicrobial medicines with proper medical oversight.

You can find Value-Dx campaign material and a link to the official WHO campaign down below.

Value-Dx campaign page

We recently worked with Global Cause on the 2020 Antimicrobial Resistance campaign. The campaign featured exclusive content from key thought leaders and industry voices on the latest on the responsible use of antibiotics and awareness of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) including our own President Professor Maurizio Sanguinetti. He was featured in the article "Rapid antimicrobial resistance detection for MDR infections"

A printed publication was enclosed within every copy of the Guardian and the content is available online here