Young health professionals combat antimicrobial resistance
23 January 2024 – The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region has some of the highest and fastest-growing rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) globally, owing to widespread antibiotic misuse and overuse. Nearly 1.3 million people are already dying as a direct result of AMR worldwide. High rates of drug resistance undermine many health efforts and make health care more complex, expensive and risky.
The AMR unit in the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is currently strengthening the AMR response through multiple intersectional strategies. These focus on key stakeholders identified at various levels and prioritize work with health care students and young health professionals.
Young people in health care are the future prescribers, dispensers and administrators of antibiotics. We must educate, engage and mobilize them as advocates for behaviour change among current and future generations. Within the Region’s cultural contexts, health workers wield significant power in their communities. They influence the health decisions of their families and peers and also work in primary health care, where most antibiotics are dispensed.
In the lead up to World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2023 and the recent release of the “WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) antibiotic book”, the Regional Office’s AMR unit launched a new competition for university students and young health professionals, on “Tackling the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in the Eastern Mediterranean Region” in September 2023.
Young people have a critical role in any health system and an inherent
