AMR – First steps into solving a threatening issue

Name of the activity: AMR – First steps into solving a threatening issue

Country/NMO: Romania (FASMR)

Program: Health Systems

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign. Combination of education and advocacy. Campaigns create awareness in society about a certain topic (education aspect) and try to funnel this awareness into pressure on the decision makers to adapt policies accordingly (advocacy aspect).

General description:

Antibiotic Awareness Week started as a campaing, between the 12th-18th of november, and its aim was to raise awareness among Romanian population about AMR and its impacts. During those 7 days we tried, firstly, to build statistics regarding the knowledge on this subject among medical students from all over the country.

Every day we tried to target a different theme. Those themes were the ones proposed by IFMSA, following the structure of the IFMSA campaign. Besides using infographics and sharing them all over social media platforms, we also organized conferences in almost every medical university in Romania with the subject of AMR, held by our respected professors. At the end of the week we made a short summary of all those 7 days.

Since Romania is the 4th country in the European Union when it comes to AMR, FASMR members intend to implement Antibiotic Awareness Week not only as a campaign, but as a project so that it can have a better structure and a better impact on our population.

Focus area:

Health System Innovation

Problem statement:

AMR is one of the most important threats regarding every country and every human being all over the world. This issue does not only affect one’s well being, which is the major side effect, but it also targets the global economic plan. As for the European Union, annually aprox. 4 million people come down with healthcare associated infections and it has become harder and harder to overcome these situations and to treat it in good time.

Target groups:

General population, Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Other Students, Doctors, Children, Youth

Objectives and indicators of success:

1) Raising awareness regarding the importance of self-medication and the dangerous effects of longterm exposure to inadequate consumption of antibiotics.

Indicator of success – assessment of the number of direct beneficiaries (students) who have received our information.

2) Proper informing of the general population regarding the importance of a stable patient-doctor relationship.

Indicator of success – design of infographics and successful promotion on every social media channel.

3) Education of medical students and their crucial role in the fight against AMR as future healthcare professionals.

Indicator of success – assessment of the number of volunteering medical students

Methodology:

1) Lectures in schools regarding the dangers of self-medication and inadequate antibiotic consumption.

2) Interactive workshops in which students had the chance to understand the concepts of antibiotics, direct susceptibility testing and treatments.

3) Open conference for medical students with guest lecturers from the National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Bucharest,

4) Public information points with volunteers, with the purpose of informing medical students and the general population.

5) Online media campaign with infographics and a promotional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MjOc3Iofes&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2CWaLf43SqzTn8Mng1KcK3AlwPZ6bXvY7aIu-rW64DRL7ucqj6N5LKvOQ

Plans for evaluation:

1) Periodic public surveys consisting of questions regarding the theme of AMR, distributed among highschool students.

2) Periodic public surveys consisting of questions (of a higher level of difficulty) regarding the theme of AMR, distributed among medical students.

3) Feedback forms