Become an Antibiotic Guardian

Protect yourself, your family and friends against the spread of antibiotic resistance.

What is antibiotic resistance?

The problem

Antibiotics are used to treat infections by killing bacteria, but now the bacteria are fighting back. Our medicines are becoming less effective which means more deaths and more complications for people receiving treatment in hospital. We have to tackle this problem before it gets worse.

How this happened

There are many reasons why antibiotics lose their effectiveness, but we have two key ones;

Firstly, we take medicines that we don't need. Antibiotics don't help most colds or coughs get better but we still request antibiotics for them.

Secondly, we make things worse when we don't take antibiotics exactly as prescribed for instance, missing dose. Never save antibiotics for future use or give them to someone else.

What can we do?

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today but you can help.

Please visit: www.antibioticguardian.com

A world without antibiotics

Pre-antibiotic age

In a world before antibiotics, as recently as the 1930s, people often died from infections like pneumonia or meningitis. Simple medical procedures/ operations were risky due to the chance of infection. Antibiotics changed that.

Antibiotic age

Since the 1940s our antibiotics have allowed us to fight infections and have saved millions of lives. But they are becoming ineffective against many infections because we aren't using them properly.

Post- Antibiotic age

If bacteria becomes "resistant" to our antibiotics many routine treatment will again become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations, even chemotherapy all rely on access to antibiotics that work. Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today, but we have a chance to fight back.

Find out how at:

www.antibioticguardian.com

Public Health Wales established the Welsh Antimicrobial Resistance Programme in 2008, in response to the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance. The core aims of the programme are to minimise illness and death due to antimicrobial resistant infection, and to maintain the future of effectiveness of antibiotics for the treatment/ prevention of infections in humans and animals.

Public Health Wales are co-ordinating the EAAD activities in Wales in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Department of Health, devolved administrations including Public Health England (PHE, and other professional organisations.

PHE have established the Antibiotic Guardian campaign to help protect antibiotics and improve knowledge about resistance.

As an Antibiotic Guardian, encourage others to join you in protecting antibiotics against the growing threat of antibiotic resistance at:

www.publihealthwales.org/antibiotic-guardian

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE IN NUMBERS

25K - The number of people who die each year across Europe due to infections resistance to antibiotics

In 2015 in WALES GPs wrote more than 2.5 million antibiotic prescriptions. The equivalent of one prescription for almost every person!

2.5 MILLION!!

30 years - The first period of time since a new class of antibiotics was last introduced despite the fact that growing numbers of infections are resistant to antibiotics.

Research has shown that only 10% of sore throats and 20% of acute sinusitis benefit from antibiotic treatment but the prescription rates are much higher than this.

What can I do?

Be an antibiotic guardian

Antibiotics are some of the most precious medicines, used to treat both humans and animals.

The antibiotic guardian campaign was launched to kick-start collective action from both healthcare professionals and members of the public to work together to slow the antibiotic resistance.

By pledging to become an antibiotic guardian you choose to preform a simple action which protects antibiotics against against the threat of antibiotic resistance.

Take these simple actions-

- Don't ask for antibiotics, treat your cold and flu symptoms with pharmacist advice and cover the counter medicines.

- Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed, never save them for later, never share them with others.

- Spread the word, tell your friends and family about antibiotic resistance.

Sign up and learn more

Rally together at antibioticguardian.com and choose a pledge that feels right for you. Remember that your actions protect antibiotics.

Thank you guys for reading x