The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) presented certificates to two secondary schools
just before the Christmas holidays for their participation in the observance of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), which was from November 18-24.
CPS reached out to the community including the secondary schools in order to share information about Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and to participate in the campaign.
The participating schools were the Milton Peters College (MPC), the Caribbean International Academy (CIA), and Methodist Agogic Center (MAC)-Comprehensive Secondary Education.
The theme for the secondary school competition was, “Empowering Young Leaders in the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance.”
The two categories that the secondary schools had to focus on was ‘Health Promotion’ where they had to design a poster or TikTok video to educate the youth and younger community on AMR.
The second category was establishing a voice, which was presenting a descriptive essay with recommendations or ideas on how to deter the abuse/misuse of antibiotics.
CIA submitted one Essay and two TikTok videos and this school took the two first prizes (one essay and the other TikTok) and one second prize for the TikTok video.
MPC took the second and third prize for essay writing.
In recognition of efforts, interest and willingness based on the judge’s feedback took the recognition/motivational prize, MAC- Comprehensive Secondary Education which did not secure a
place in the competition in any of the identified prize’s category took on the challenge and didn’t only emphasize the medical sector but also included the agriculture and veterinary sectors.
Each participating school received a certificate of participation.
The judges were representatives from Health Care Laboratory St. Maarten N.V. (HCLS), Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (Ministry VSA), Social & Health Insurances (SZV), American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC), and DCOMM also received a Certificate of
Appreciation.
A thank you goes out to AUC for sponsoring the first prize for TikTok.
The theme of WAAW remained the same as in 2022, “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together.” The World Health Organization (WHO) called on all sectors to encourage the prudent use of antimicrobials and to strengthen preventive measures addressing AMR, working together collaboratively through a One Health approach.
The objective of the CPS campaign was to spread information to different groups within the community and for persons to be able to learn more about AMR, and to understand the need to properly manage the use of antibiotics, a global concern.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
Antibiotics and other antimicrobials play a key role in the success of modern medicine and have greatly improved the health of humans and animals.
But overuse and misuse has reduced their efficacy, with more pathogens developing the ability to survive the antimicrobials designed to eliminate them, the WHO points out.