Nyeri, Kenya: The Department of Health Services in Nyeri County marked the beginning of the celebration of AMR Awareness Week 2023 today. This week is commemorated annually between the 18th and 23rd of November. The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Preventing AMR together’.
The theme of the Campaign, ‘Preventing AMR together,’ looks into sensitizing the community and their role in curbing the burden of Antimicrobial Resistance through safe practices on drug usage for humans, animals, and plants.
To commemorate and honour the week starting on Saturday, 70 Cyclists took a 10 km ride through Nyeri town and its outskirts to create more awareness on the same.
The event also featured some other activities, including:
a roadshow
Street Cleanup exercise
hospital CMEs and patient Health Talks
Community outreach
Farmer Education on AMR is geared towards driving this agenda.
The Campaign is a joint effort by the various departments and sectors of the County. These include,
– Department of Health Services with partners including Mwai Kibaki Hospital Othaya
-Christian Health Association Kenya
– Dedan Kimathi University
– Youth Empowerment Development Foundation
-National Transport and Safety Authority
– The Nyeri Cyclists Club.
Reportedly, AMR Awareness Week is dedicated to improving awareness and understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance.
The main goal is to raise awareness of AMR. AMR is a complex challenge resulting from the overuse and abuse of antibiotics and a silent disruptor. It threatens the efficacy of essential therapies upon which countless lives depend.
Earlier, The Nyeri County Antimicrobial Stewardship Interagency Committee (CASIC) also held a consultative meeting at the White Rhino Hotel in preparation for the upcoming World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) on Saturday, November 2, 2023.
The meeting was partnered with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Medicines, Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Services (MTaPS) Program.
It emphasized ailment and cure of antimicrobial resistance, which refers to the inability of antimicrobials/medicines (antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitic)to kill or inactivate disease-causing microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites).
This illness makes the standard treatments ineffective and the community vulnerable as drug-resistant infections can be spread.
Antimicrobials are valuable therapeutics for treating infections in humans and animals and food production practices.