Use antibiotics wisely to combat rising drug resistance

NaijaAgroNet:

Leading up to 2017 World Antibiotic Awareness Week, slated between November 13 and 19, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are together calling for responsible use of antibiotics in humans and animals to reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Antibiotic resistance, NaijaAgroNet report, is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases.

Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that infections affecting people including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning and gonorrhoea - and animals alike are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.

Antibiotics, experts say, are often overprescribed by physicians and veterinarians and overused by the public. Where they can be bought for human or animal use without a prescription, the emergence and spread of resistance is made worse.

They also cited examples of misuse include taking antibiotics for viral infections like colds and flu, and using them as animal growth promoters on farms or in aquaculture.

To tackle these problems, WHO, FAO and OIE are leveraging their expertise and working together in a ‘One Health' approach to promote best practices to reduce the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant microbes in both humans and animals.

"Antibiotic resistance is a global crisis that we cannot ignore," says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. "If we don't tackle this threat with strong, coordinated action, antimicrobial resistance will take us back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery."

"The overuse of antimicrobials blunts their effectiveness, and we must reduce their misuse in food systems," says José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of FAO. "Antimicrobial veterinary medicines are a crucial tool for animal health and welfare and safe food production, but they are by no means the only tool."

"Like in human health, veterinary medicine has tremendously progressed thanks to antibiotics. Preserving their efficacy and availability through their responsible use associated with good husbandry and prevention practices, is therefore essential to preserve animal health and welfare," highlights Dr Monique Eloit, Director-General of OIE. 

Ogochukwu Nebenanya/ED, Ops

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Pix: Prof. Adewale, Minister of Health

We can’t live without food – Akunyili

Prof. Akunyili, Former Information Communication Minister

Former Minister of Information and Communications who doubles as a renowned Pharmacist, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has stressed the importance of food, saying man can not live without, but can do without drugs, thus she called for adoption of nutritional supplements, describing them as crucial to healthcare management.

Akunyili made this position know at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, where she declared open the National Health Conference on Nutrition Therapy organised by a United States-based company.

“Food is actually more important than drug because we can live without drugs but we cannot live without food. This must be why all over the world, it is always Food and Drug Regulatory Agency and not Drug and Food Regulatory Agency,” she said.

She noted that as a pharmacist, she is aware that nutrition plays a key role in people’s health status, stressing “This is because many of the nutrients we need for healthy living can be found in fruits, seeds, roots, vegetables, nuts and unprocessed natural food.”

She disclosed that it was this that made her to give “equal opportunity to various therapies – including food supplements” during her days as Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) from 2001 to 2008.

“We actually paid as much attention to food in NAFDAC as we did to drugs, but for some reason, the public was more interested in drugs. However, I always insisted that every food and drug must meet stipulated standards so that our people do not end up taking poison in the name of food and drugs,” Akunyili stated.

The conference which had as theme “Nutrition: Potency & Possibilities In Health Care Delivery” was jointly organised by Hallelujah Acres USA and Hallelujah Acres Nigeria. It was graced by delegates from across Nigeria, with the President and Chief Education Officer of Hallelujah Acres, Paul Malkmus, and his wife Ann, as special guests.

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