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In a bid to reduce the growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance, Nigerians have been advised to be good stewards of antimicrobial medications by consulting a doctor and being tested, when necessary, before using antibiotics for any condition.
Speaking at the symposium to mark the World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week by the UCH Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee in partnership with the University of Ibadan Students’ One Health Club and the AMR Club, Dr Babatunde Ogunbosi stated that without proper medical review and testing, people end up taking the wrong antibiotics.
He declared that testing conducted after the start of antibiotics is similarly incorrect since it fails to provide reliable information to direct the appropriate treatment of a sick person.
According to him, appropriate antimicrobial use entails only using antibiotics when prescribed by a certified health professional, always taking the full prescription of antibiotics, even if already feeling better, never using left-over antibiotics, never sharing antibiotics with others, and returning unused antibiotics to the pharmacy for disposal.
Ogunbosi declared: “The pharmacy is a place that’s designated to dispose of them. But most people say I bought this with my money; how can I take it back to the pharmacy again?” But why do you keep those antibiotics at home? The tendency is that when somebody else is ill, you would take those antibiotics and use them without a prescription.
“Also, a lot of antibiotics being thrown into the environment contaminates it, and in diluted doses, it gives the bugs in the environment the opportunity to develop resistance, and they come back to haunt us.”
He said that in contrast to medications for chronic disorders like diabetes and hypertension, pharmaceutical companies are not interested in creating new antibiotics since it is not profitable for them, which makes preserving available antibiotics and preventing AMR crucial.
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Professor Godson Ana, a former dean of the faculty of public health at the University of Ibadan, stated that indiscriminate use of antimicrobials was harmful for the environment, global health security, and food security.
He declared that the environment acts as a sink of antimicrobials, creating opportunities for mutations in disease-causing germs and subsequently increasing people’s predisposition to more severe illnesses.
Prof Ana therefore charged Nigerians to be good ambassadors and stewards of appropriate medications and the care of their environment while also consciously maintaining healthy lifestyles.
Professor Victoria Adetunji, a public health veterinarian at the University of Ibadan, said animal husbandry is pivotal to the containment of antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria and therefore urged veterinary doctors to practice evidence-based prescriptions and to adhere to the withdrawal period for antimicrobials in animals.
She condemned the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters and as prophylaxis in animals and warned of evidence of transmission of resistant pathogens from animals to humans in the country.
The UCH Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee is supported by the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS-2) Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield – University College Hospital, Ibadan (Nigeria) AMS Partnership project.
The CwPAMS programme funds and supports Health Partnerships between UK and African health institutions focused on strengthening antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). The programme is funded by the UK Department for Health and Social Care’s Fleming Fund, managed by the Global Health Partnership formerly, Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) and the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA).
