With the mission of spreading the message, “The Future of Antibiotics Depends On All of Us” to all doctors, physicians as well as customers and patients, FV Hospital held World Antibiotic Awareness Week from 18/11/2019 to 22/11/2019. The whole occasion was designed to raise awareness for everyone and help them to learn how to act proactively in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

During the programme, pharmaceutical staff were always at the event area to offer consultancies, explaining to people about antibiotic resistance so that they could further their understanding. Antibiotic abuse and continuous antibiotic abuse in humans and animals lead to the appearance and expanding of antibiotic resistant bacteria (AMR). Drug-resistant bacteria are increasing to an alarming rate in many places in the world, which affects treatment negatively for infections including common ones. Therefore, although antibiotics are important and effective, we should only use them when medical staff write out a prescription and follow specifically their doses and instructions.

The event held numerous memorable activities such as a Theme Puzzles contest, where contestants not only had a chance to relax and have fun, but also gain useful knowledge about infections and antibiotics. Puzzles topics included; Having sexual intercourse safely to prevent sexually transmitted diseases; Washing hands in the right way and food safety are important solutions to prevent antibiotic resistance as well as it spreading; and Using clean water and sanitizing tidily contribute to preventing spread of antibiotic resistant infections such as: tuberculosis, malaria, staphylococcus, pneumonia, cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, HIV, and hepatitis A, etc.

In addition, departments took part in a poster design contest with the theme; Antibiotic Time Out, which resulted in the Nurses Training Department winning two first prizes and the Pharmacy Department winning the third prize. All the winning posters were impressive, making serious content stand out and accessible with catchy content and designs.

In addition, the event also had some useful workshops such as; Multidrug – Resistant Gram – Negative Bacterial Infections , shared by a representative of the Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Vietnam Company, and Guidelines on Implementation of Antibiotic Management Plan in Vietnam  presented by Pfizer Vietnam Company. FV Hospital not only was able to raise awareness and further knowledge in antibiotic resistance for employees, but also focused on optimizing its own management systems to observe and research the issues of antibiotic resistance.

At the end of the programme, Doctor Do Trong Khanh, FVH’s Medical Director, congratulated the Pharmacy Department on successfully holding this significant event which helps doctors and physicians to understand the importance of preventing antibiotic resistance in the hospital.

Focused on the need to raise awareness in using antibiotics in moderation, World Antibiotic  Awareness Week at FV Hospital was successful in providing important and necessary knowledge to people and medical staff to help prevent the appearance and spread of antibiotic resistance.