Beat the Bugs

Staff and students across the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health are working hard to support the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.

This slow-tsunami was recently described by the United Nationals Secretary General as ‘a fundamental threat to global health and safety’, when announcing the Declaration for a two-year action plan, amongst 193 member countries, in September. This was soon followed by a Faculty-supported public debate with speakers from the University, Public Health England, the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and local primary and secondary care providers. Local media reports included radio interviews with Dr David Allison (Pharmacy) and Dr Roger Harrison (Public Health).

Just days later, Beat the Bugs campaign was launched, with students from Medics in Primary Schools teaming up with pharmacy students to work with children in local primary schools to become Junior Antibiotic Guardians. This work is being funded by the Learning Enrichment Fund, led by Drs Harrison, Allison, Fisher and Verma, all in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.

And there is even more activity on and off campus in November, with staff and students working hard to promote World Antibiotic Awareness Week from 14-20 November and the European Antibiotic Awareness Day on 18 November. To mark this, the University’s Global Health Society are hosting an outstanding programme for a public-debate on 17 November: “Antibiotics – a Global Ticking Timebomb”.

Dr Harrison said “our students are yet again showing their commitment and energy to bring the public and international experts together, and showing how all of us are responsible for simple steps to reduce this massive world-wide killer”.

You can register for the public event on 17 November via Eventbrite.

Further details about the activities can be found on these Facebook groups:
More information about these events is available from Roger.Harrison.