|
Antimicrobial agents are medicines used to treat
infections caused by micro organisms, including
bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The discovery of
antimicrobials is one of the most important advances in
health in human history – alleviating suffering from
disease and saving billions of lives over the past 70
years. Antimicrobials include antibiotics,
chemotherapeutic agents, antifungals, antiparasitic
medicines and antivirals.
Most of us live longer and
healthier lives today, partly because powerful and effective
medicines – known as antimicrobials– are available to treat
infectious diseases. Until the discovery and availability of
antimicrobials in the 1940s, people died needlessly from infectious
diseases. Today, none of us can imagine living in a world without
antimicrobials.
We are now on the brink of
losing this precious arsenal of medicines. The use and misuse of
antimicrobials in human medicine and animal husbandry over the past
70 years have increased the number and types of micro organisms
resistant to these medicines, causing deaths, greater suffering and
disability, and higher health-care costs.
If this phenomenon continues
unchecked, many infectious diseases risk becoming uncontrollable and
could derail progress made towards reaching the health related
United Nations Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Furthermore,
the growth of global trade and travel allows resistant organisms to
spread worldwide within hours.
|
|
World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April to mark the
founding of WHO. Each year, the Organization selects a
key health issue, and encourages people from all ages
and all backgrounds to hold events that highlight the
signifi cance of this issue for good health and
well-being. World Health Day provides a unique
opportunity for communities from across the world to
come together for one day to promote actions that can
improve our health.
Antimicrobial agents are medicines used to treat
infections caused by micro organisms, including
bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The discovery of
antimicrobials is one of the most important advances in
health in human history – alleviating suffering from
disease and saving billions of lives over the past 70
years. Antimicrobials include antibiotics,
chemotherapeutic agents, antifungals, antiparasitic
medicines and antivirals. |
|
Antimicrobial resistance – also knownas drug resistance
– occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses,
fungi and parasites change in ways that render the
medications used to cure the infections they cause
ineffective. When the microorganisms become resistant to
most antimicrobials they are often referred to as “superbugs”.
This is a major concern because a resistant infection
may kill, can spread to others, and imposes huge costs
to individuals and society.
 |
Most of us live longer and
healthier lives today, partly because powerful and effective
medicines – known as antimicrobials– are available to treat
infectious diseases. Until the discovery and availability of
antimicrobials in the 1940s, people died needlessly from infectious
diseases. Today, none of us can imagine living in a world without
antimicrobials.
We are now on the brink of
losing this precious arsenal of medicines. The use and misuse of
antimicrobials in human medicine and animal husbandry over the past
70 years have increased the number and types of micro organisms
resistant to these medicines, causing deaths, greater suffering and
disability, and higher health-care costs.
If this phenomenon continues
unchecked, many infectious diseases risk becoming uncontrollable and
could derail progress made towards reaching the health related
United Nations Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Furthermore,
the growth of global trade and travel allows resistant organisms to
spread worldwide within hours.
World
Health Day 2011 brochure
Arabic |
English |
French
|
