Stakeholders in the healthcare sector say that continued education, advocacy and collective action will help combat the challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The stakeholders spoke at a workshop for media practitioners to mark this year’s World AMR Awareness Week, organised by a Media EIS fellow, Paschal Chukwuemeka, with support from the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria, in Owerri, on Monday.

Mr Chukwuemeka said AMR threatens the very foundation of modern medicine, compromising the human ability to treat even the simplest infections.

He decried the negative effects of AMR on food security, economic stability, and the well-being of humans, animals, and the environment and called on journalists to amplify the urgency, mobilise public awareness, and inspire policy change through their reportage.

Ridwan Yahaya, the antimicrobial stewardship manager of the NCDC, urged the media to pursue their advocacy role as part of the NCDC’s action plan for AMR.

Mr Yahaya said with at least 200,000 newborns dying each year from complications of AMR, the media can deploy the youths, policymakers, patients and survivors to accelerate action in the fight against AMR.

Olayinka Umar Farouk, the deputy project director at Risk Communication at Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria, who spoke on effective reporting strategies for AMR awareness and social behavioural change, urged the media to remain agents for change by championing and advocating AMR awareness.

(NAN)