PESHAWAR: An awareness walk was organised at the Medical Teaching Institution Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) on Thursday to scale up public awareness of the unnecessary use of antibiotics to stay safe from health complications.

The WHO in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, is facilitating nationwide campaign during the World Antibiotic Awareness Week (Nov 18-24) with the theme “the future of antibiotics depends on us all”.

The walk was organised jointly by the Social Welfare Society of Khyber Medical College and heath wing of KTH to stop unnecessary use of antibiotics, a press release said.

Acting medical director Prof Dr Irshad Ahmed, nursing director Rehmat Ullah, manager medical record Dr Farman and a number of faculty and managerial staff attended the walk.

They held banners inscribed with information regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and conducted awareness session in KTH OPD to create awareness among the patients for the betterment of patient care and health professionals.

The walk was arranged to encourage best practices among general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid further development of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are considered as the foundation of modern medicine. However, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics have encouraged the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.

According to WHO, the antimicrobial resistance has the potential to affect people at any stage of life. AMR occurs naturally, but is facilitated by the inappropriate use of medicines, including using antibiotics for viral infections such as flu, cold or sharing antibiotics.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2019