The annual World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) will be celebrated this year from 12 to 18 November with various coordinated activities around the world. This year’s theme will focus on promoting the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The regional WAAW celebrations in Asia-Pacific will kick off on 12 November with select public stakeholders invited to attend the formal opening.

The WAAW celebration is the global campaign to raise awareness on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobials such as antibiotics are drugs working against harmful microbes. Microbes or micro-organisms are very small living things not visible with the bare eye. They include bacteria, viruses, fungi and molds.

Worldwide, overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animals and humans is increasingly resulting in microbes overcoming their resistance to these drugs (AMR) and that places the health of both humans and animals in jeopardy.  The UN General Assembly considers AMR an important health issue and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a leader in the fight against AMR in animals.

The UN Environment has recently expressed interest to formalize partnership with the Tripartite, collaboration between FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to combat health threats associated with interactions between humans, animal and the environments. The partnership promotes a One Health approach in dealing with health issues such as AMR.

Join the pledge
People across the Asia-Pacific region are invited to participate and join others who’ve already pledged to use antimicrobials more wisely. How can you join? You can either take a selfie for your favorite social media network or head to this site and make the pledge!

#BeAntibioticsmart selfie

• Take a selfie. Be creative, use props to emphasize how you are antibiotic smart!
• Caption it. State your AMR pledge or how you are antibiotic smart. Example captions might be any of the following:
  • I’m a (state profession). I prudently use antimicrobials to protect my children.
  • I’m a (state profession). I care for my health and use antibiotics responsibly.
  • I’m a (state profession). I practice good farm practices to stop antimicrobial resistance.
  • I’m a (state profession). I care for my children’s future, I support the regulation of antimicrobials.
  • I’m a (state profession). I only provide antibiotics/antimicrobials only when necessary.
  • I’m a (state profession). I care for my children’s future and the environment and prudently use antimicrobials in livestock farming.
  • Use the hashtags. Include #Antibioticsmart, #AMRPledge in your post.
  • Want to win some freebies? Make your post public and tag @FAOAsiaPacific and @FAOAnimalHealth. We’ll direct message you if your post wins.