Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as one of the most relevant issues in recent years, although it is still not receiving enough attention. As a consequence, antibiotics have begun to lose their effectiveness against bacteria and if they continue, a serious global health crisis could be generated. That is why it is important to inform the general population but also the medical community and that is why there is a course that you cannot miss.
Current outlook
Just to put it in context, this problem, considered a silent pandemic, already causes at least 700 thousand deaths a year on the planet. But if the same trend continues, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2050 the figure will increase to 10 million.
For this reason the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) created the University Plan for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance (PUCRA). Its owner is Dr. Samuel Ponce de León Rosales, who points out that this serious problem should not be downplayed.
He added that the fact that the drugs no longer work is serious and can limit medical practices such as transplants, surgical interventions and treatments that require preventing infections.
At the remote media conference “The silent pandemic. Antimicrobial resistance “, Ponce de León clarified that it is a global problem, not only a medical one, in which we all participate as a society: patients by demanding them in consultations and self-medicating; doctors, who prescribe them even for illnesses that don’t need them; the pharmaceutical companies, by promoting their purchase; and pharmacies, by selling them excessively in attached offices.
Diseases that antibiotics don’t work for
The professor of the Faculty of Medicine and spokesman for the University Commission for the Attention of the Coronavirus Emergency, Mauricio Rodríguez Álvarez, recalled that they are not used to treat COVID-19, a viral infection, but they are used in hospitals and in outpatient consultations for treat it.
He documented that in the world this disease has been treated with antibiotic therapies in 87.7 percent of cases. They should not be used unnecessarily, nor self-medicate, you should always have the supervision of a doctor and, preferably, document the infection that is being treated.
It recommended its use based on the Clinical Practice Guidelines, reduce its use in agribusiness, regulate its consumption in human health, in addition to promoting good practices and continuing education.
In turn, Ana María Ocaña Castañeda, Reckitt’s medical manager, presented the Education Project on Antimicrobial Resistance in Mexico (PERAM), which is jointly promoted by that company and UNAM, through PUCRA.
It joins efforts of various entities and disciplines to carry out actions on education, aimed at reducing 50 percent of the consumption of antibiotics globally. It is an initiative that seeks to be a roadmap focused on people with a sustainable vision, using the model established by the United Nations to support the call to action.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of activities of the PUCRA Network and professor of the UNAM Postgraduate, Guadalupe Miranda Novales, announced some points of the Declaration for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance Mexico City 2021, which highlights that it is necessary to raise the level of priority and recognize the need to establish cross-cutting practices in the sectors of public administration and actors involved in the consumption of antimicrobials, in order to reduce it by 30 percent during the period 2022-2024, as part of a first phase.
Immediate training of medical personnel
In this context, Karen Flores Moreno, a laboratory technician of the PUCRA Network and a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry of the National University, announced the realization of the free and distance course “Antimicrobial resistance and the approach to respiratory tract infections.” It is aimed at medical students and general practitioners and aims to increase awareness of proper prescription.
If you are interested in taking this course, all you have to do is check this link. Remember that it is free and remote so it does not matter where you are because you can take it.