OYO State government says that antibiotic-resistant infections pose a threat to health and has called on Nigerian students to be vanguards against the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis in the community.
Director of Public Health at the Oyo State Ministry of Health, Dr Akintunde Babatunde, gave the call at the 2023 World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with USAID Breakthrough Action Nigeria at the Humani Alaga Secondary School in Ibadan.
Dr Babatunde stated that multidrug-resistant bacteria develop due to antimicrobial resistance because of self-medication, misuse or abuse of medicines, and quackery in medical care and pose a challenge to the efficacy of essential medicines and the ability to effectively treat infectious diseases.
“Antimicrobial resistance occurs when genetic mutations make these microbes unresponsive to medicines. This leads to ineffective management of the infections, which subsequently increases the risk of disease spread and the development of severe and often fatal infections.
“So, it is important that we sensitise the students on the implications of antimicrobial resistance, and they can help to cascade the message to the larger population. We will continue to provide an enabling environment for correct information on AMR among the populace. We have also increased the frequency of our activity in stemming quackery as they also contribute to AMR in society.”
Oyo State Coordinator, USAID Breakthrough Action Nigeria, Mrs Oluwatoyin Afachung, said AMR is becoming an epidemic and, as such, there is a need to get all hands on deck to stem it in the community.
In a remark, a World Health Organisation (WHO) representative, Dr Philips Zonto, said antibiotic-resistant infections caused 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019, more than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, with Subsaharan African countries bearing the highest burden of AMR-associated death rates at 99 deaths per 100 000 people.
Speaking through Mr Maxwell Obeka, he said WHO had trained over 899 youth ambassadors in Nigeria to serve as advocates against the threat posed by AMR in their communities and will continue to mobilise youths to join its efforts to optimise antimicrobial use.
Dr Abiodun Abatan, the guest lecturer at the occasion, cautioned against inappropriate use of medicines in animals, both to treat and to prevent infection, before such animals are slaughtered, and quackery in animal health.
