NIH launches campaign on antibiotic resistance

The National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad on Thursday launched a week-long awareness campaign on antibiotic resistance.

The campaign has been launched as part an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Week which will continue until November 24. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the World Antibiotic Awareness Week every year to increase global awareness of antibiotic resistance and its devastating impacts on living beings.

An NIH spokesperson shared that AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat while increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2020.