Quadripartite launches toolkit for media engagement on AMR

By Conrad Mwanawashe

AN ANTIMICROBIAL Resistance (AMR) Quadripartite toolkit for media engagement, intended for use by anyone who wishes to engage the media on AMR-related issues, has been launched.

The toolkit is aimed at equipping individuals, organizations and networks with tools for media engagement on AMR at subnational, national, regional and global levels to increase public awareness, including among policy-makers, civil society and communities.

The Quadripartite toolkit titled: Enhancing the role of media for effective Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) communication; was launched by the quadripartite organizations which include: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

“I am sure people will find the toolkit very useful to use it for media engagement on antimicrobial resistance. Some key takeaways are to break down the complexity of the AMR issue step-by-step into simple language and making sure that media are able to access the right information at the right time. I also think stories are very important in conveying AMR to people, especially to the media, and we have to make sure that people do understand that there are lives and people behind any number and statistic,” said Dr Philip Mathew Technical Officer, AMR ACA, WHO HQ.

Download the toolkit here:

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240093225

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the 10 most serious global public health threats facing humanity (1). It is undermining a century of progress in medicine, as infections that were previously treatable and curable with drugs are becoming (or at risk of becoming) incurable.

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial agents. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

Drug-resistant microbes can pass between animals, plants and food, and in the environment. A ‘One Health’ approach which recognizes that the health of animals, humans, plants and the environment are interlinked is therefore essential to respond to AMR, said Yerkem Sembayeva, Communications Specialist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Yerkem added that “numbers do not lie. Almost 5 million deaths were associated with AMR in a year.”

AMR puts many of the gains of modern medicine at risk.
It makes infections harder to treat and makes other medical procedures and treatments –
such as surgery, caesarean sections and cancer chemotherapy – much riskier.
In addition to death and disability, AMR has significant economic costs.

The World Bank estimates that AMR could result in US$ 1 trillion additional healthcare costs by 2050, and US$ 1 trillion to US$ 3.4 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) losses per year by 2030.

Various forms of media help to shape public opinion, narratives and discourse that affect public behaviour, knowledge, attitudes, and practice.

Yerkem added that media also help to dispel myths and misconceptions, combat misinformation and promote evidence- and science-based information. Media were therefore identified as one of four priorities during two global consultations with over 200 people from diverse sectors, for raising awareness about AMR, organized in 2022 by the Quadripartite organizations.

This toolkit consists of three modules, with references:

  • Three-step guide to media engagement
  • Tactics for media engagement
  • Tools and tips

Indonesia is among the 5 countries with the highest projected percentage increase in antimicrobial consumption by 2030. Guillaume Maltaverne, Regional Communication Officer for Asia Pacific, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) shared his experience of increasing media engagement in Indonesia. He said it resulted in over 250 media publications around rabies and One Health approach because of the strategy of engaging Indonesia’s important media association in this effort. Rabies is endemic throughout Indonesia and its outbreaks has led to deaths among human beings, particularly children. This could be averted if we use One Health approach to address challenges like rabies or AMR.

Media is an essential cog-in-the-wheel to address AMR.

“Our association with AMR began early on when we lost one of our members in mid 1990s due to drug-resistant TB. It was also then that one our friends from the medical fraternity in Lucknow shared with us that he had seen his first case of drug-resistant TB in 1976. The danger of drug-resistant microbes and threat they pose to our health and wellbeing has sadly grown manifold since then. Such a long history of AMR and sub-optimal inaction,” said Shobha Shukla, Managing Editor of CNS and a lead writer of the Quadripartite toolkit. She is also the Chairperson of Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA).

“For me on a personal level, humanising drug resistance or AMR has been the biggest lynchpin that brings people together to address AMR. ANYONE of us is at risk of suffering due to AMR – and this reality needs to seep in – deep within – to invoke engagement and action on an individual level and join hands with media for better policies, programmes and actions to combat AMR,” said Shukla.

“From our experience since 1991, Putting people first has been a central mantra when it comes to media engagement, policy advocacy and communications – journalists are also human beings. We need to cultivate a shared understanding on AMR with the journalists whom we are trying to engage with in the first place.”

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