The symposium, which was hosted by the World Health Organization office in Kuwait in cooperation with the Ministry of Health yesterday on the occasion of the celebration of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, has sounded warnings against the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials (antibiotics).
The Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Al-Mundhir Al-Hasawi, stressed the importance of cooperation between all relevant parties to prevent antibiotic resistance and misuse, in order to achieve good results in the health sector, pointing out the need to highlight the importance of optimal use of these antibiotics, reports Al-Rai daily.
He explained, “This symposium is not just a health event, but rather a platform to bring together specialists to support programs to supervise the use of antibiotics within health care facilities in Kuwait and to work together to achieve better health outcomes for Kuwait by addressing issues related to the misuse and overuse of these antibiotics.”
He stated that the World Health Organization has classified antibiotic resistance as one of the 10 most important causes threatening human health now and in the future, and that it is responsible for 1.2 million deaths around the world, surpassing deaths from malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis.
He explained that Kuwait paid great attention to the problem of antibiotic resistance and their optimal use, so it established higher committees concerned with this matter and was also entrusted with the task of representing this problem at the national level to manage infection prevention and sterilization, adding that the responsibility for the optimal use of antibiotics is not only the responsibility of decision makers, but rather a shared responsibility for all.
In turn, the Head of the Department of Statistical Studies and Analysis in the Infection Prevention Department at the Ministry of Health and the National Liaison Officer for Antibiotic Resistance, Dr. Abeer Omar, called for addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance and being able to confront this challenge that threatens everyone.
The representative of the World Health Organization in Kuwait, Dr. Asad Hafeez, stressed the need for multi-sectoral cooperation to implement antimicrobial stewardship, pointing out that antimicrobial resistance threatens everyone, including humans, animals, plants and the environment.
He called for the need to prevent antimicrobial resistance and the need for cooperation in this regard to protect future generations, calling for increasing awareness and urging action among concerned parties within the framework of the One Health approach to confront the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
He pointed out that this event also aims to highlight the importance of the Ministry’s national action plan and encourage health care professionals to be careful when prescribing antibiotics to patients and to think about the risks associated with overprescribing them.
