Comment EDITOR’S COMMENTwith LOUISE FRAMPTON THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL Editor


Louise Frampton louiseframpton@stepcomms.com


Technical Editor Kate Woodhead


Journal Administration Katy Cockle katycockle@stepcomms.com


Design Steven Dillon


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James Scrivens jamesscrivens@stepcomms.com


Publisher Geoff King geoffking@stepcomms.com


Publishing Director Trevor Moon trevormoon@stepcomms.com


STEP COMMUNICATIONS ISSN No. 1478-5641


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The human cost of AMR laid bare


In this issue, the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is high on the agenda, in view of World AMR Awareness Week taking place 18-24 November. AMR is recognised as one of the top 10 global health threats. Without urgent intervention, AMR will have severe health, social, and economic consequences. Medical procedures, such as surgeries, organ transplants, and cancer treatments, which rely on effective antibiotics to prevent infections, will be at significant risk if we do not act now. No single country or individual can fight AMR alone, and a collaborative “One Health”


approach will be required. But we can all have a role to play – through effective antibiotic stewardship; improving point of care diagnostics; by preventing infections occurring in the first instance; by tackling antibiotic waste and the issue of inappropriate disposal in hospitals; strengthening AMR surveillance; and through research and clinical trials into new antimicrobials. But there is also another way in which we can have an impact – by sharing patient stories and giving AMR survivors a voice. AMR is often described as ‘the silent pandemic’, but the impact it has on patients is


devasting and tangible, which is why the WHO launched a campaign, earlier this year, with the slogan: ‘AMR is invisible, but I am not’. The campaign includes videos aimed at bringing survivors’ stories to the forefront and making the issue relatable, high impact, and to galvanise action. The powerful stories – as told by Ella, Brandon, Vanessa and others – reminds us that behind the statistics is the human impact of AMR. Ella, who has cystic fibrosis, tells of living a “shell of an existence” after experiencing a


severe antibiotic-resistant infection. “I had thick mucus coating my airways 24/7. I was short of breath even walking a few steps…The most difficult realisation was that these tiny microbes were overtaking my body and I couldn’t do anything to stop them.” Brandon was diagnosed with HIV at the age of 8 years old. When he reached high school age, his HIV medication suddenly stopped working, so he started to isolate himself. “AMR is happening now. It happened to me. It can happen to you,” he warns in the video. Vanessa had a car accident when she was 25 years old and suffered severe injuries


to most of her body. However, the most severe were to her face and this led to a 10-year facial reconstruction. In the 6th year, after having prosthetics implanted into her face, she contracted an infection. She was admitted to surgery to clear the infection, but two weeks later it came back – and the infection kept on coming back, over and over again. “Waking up every day to a recurring infection was frightening. I kept looking into the mirror and seeing this infection eating away at the skin on my face and thinking ‘am I going to have a face in the morning? How much further damage is it going to do?’” she comments. You can view these powerful patient stories on the WHO’s campaign pages, at: https://www. who.int/campaigns/world-amr-awareness-week/2024/amr-is-invisible-i-am-not# Commenting on the campaign, Sarah Sheppard, from the World Health Organization, said: “If we do not step up to stop antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial resistance will stop us. As resistance spreads, not only will decades of medical progress start to unravel, but everything we hold dear – our health, our food security, the world and animals around us – is at risk. All because we didn’t listen to the alarm bells that were ringing loud and clear. The data is irrefutable. But the numbers are so vast, the reality is hard to grasp. We need to dig deeper. Because behind every statistic there is a real human cost. We cannot keep paying it.”


louiseframpton@stepcomms.com Get in touch and give us your views, email me:


November 2024 I www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 5


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