Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) happens when organisms that trigger an infection, like micro organism, develop resistance to medicines like antibiotics. The World Well being Group estimates that there are 4.95 million deaths per 12 months related to AMR and the difficulty is a high public well being precedence for policymakers within the UK and all over the world.
In December 2017, Public Well being England set about elevating public consciousness and understanding of AMR to sort out the inaccurate use of antibiotics by most of the people and healthcare professionals.
Over a three-year interval, the Maintain Antibiotics Working marketing campaign was focused at teams who have been most probably to make use of antibiotics (mothers of youngsters aged 0 to 16, and folks aged over 50), and healthcare professionals coping with affected person care and prescribing.
In a peer-reviewed study investigating the impact of the campaign, we discovered it reached the target market, boosted consciousness, and supported GPs, in addition to growing information, altering attitudes, and growing concern about AMR.
Dancing drugs
The marketing campaign was fronted by a bunch of singing and dancing anthropomorphic antibiotic drugs, who serenaded our audiences with a enjoyable, catchy and interesting tune concerning the significance of solely taking antibiotics whenever you want them and following your healthcare skilled’s recommendation.
This was run in promoting throughout tv and video-on-demand, radio, newspapers, billboards and different outside shows, and on social media.
The marketing campaign additionally included affected person sources like info leaflets and posters for healthcare professionals to provide to members of the general public.
Investigating influence
In November 2023, UKHSA printed a study within the educational journal Eurosurveillance evaluating the influence of the marketing campaign.
We wished to search out out whether or not we had been profitable in reaching most of the people and our particular goal audiences, and if the general public’s information, consciousness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance improved because of the marketing campaign.
We additionally wished to research whether or not right antibiotic utilization elevated, if GPs have been extra assured to say no antibiotics, and if demand from sufferers went down.
How was the research undertaken?
We collected questionnaire information from the general public earlier than and after every marketing campaign burst, which ran for 3 months every year.
Our goal pattern dimension was 1,000 respondents for every questionnaire wave. Samples have been then elevated with every wave via focused sampling amongst key teams, reminiscent of moms of youngsters aged 0 to 16.
The general public pattern was weighted to make sure it was nationally consultant by age, gender, area, and socioeconomic standing.
What we discovered
Over the three years of exercise, we noticed will increase throughout key metrics. This included a big bounce in consciousness throughout goal audiences, with a 20% improve amongst moms of youngsters aged 0 to 16.
- Amongst our goal audiences, we noticed a 16.7% improve in consciousness and understanding that “antibiotics will cease working for you if taken incorrectly”, in addition to a 7.5% improve in consciousness and understanding that “taking antibiotics unnecessarily places you and your loved ones in danger”.
- There was a reported improve in acceptable antibiotics utilization, too. The variety of respondents in our goal audiences who reported that they have been unlikely to request antibiotics for themselves or their little one elevated by 6.85% and 18.5% respectively following the primary 12 months that the marketing campaign was run.
- Respondents additionally reported feeling extra involved about AMR, each in relation to themselves (vital improve of 28%) and people inside their care (vital improve of 11% from 54% to 60%).
- GPs felt the marketing campaign supported them to say no to sufferers requesting antibiotics (> 89%), the place not clinically acceptable. From pre to publish 2017, GPs who have been conscious of the marketing campaign have been considerably extra assured to refuse prescribing antibiotics. In 2018, GP’s who have been conscious of the marketing campaign have been extra prone to clarify the inappropriateness of utilizing antibiotics to deal with viral infections to sufferers.
What do these findings inform us?
These findings clearly display the necessary position that communication campaigns can have in elevating consciousness about severe public well being issues like AMR.
Though Maintain Antibiotics Working is now not a stay media marketing campaign, the digital sources are nonetheless out there and have been translated into 12 extra languages. We have now additionally continued to interact the general public via different instruments, together with:
- Antibiotic Guardian: a marketing campaign devised to comply with up on the attention raised by Maintain Antibiotics Working with a robust engagement exercise. Thus far, greater than 205,000 pledges have been constructed from people throughout greater than 120 international locations about how they plan to make higher use of antibiotics and contribute to tackling AMR.
- The e-bug Programme: an initiative searching for to achieve and equip those that work with, or help youngsters and younger folks (aged 3 to 25 years) in all communities with info and actions to construct information round microbes, illness, hygiene, vaccination and AMR.
- TARGET Antibiotic Toolkit: a toolkit designed to help major care clinicians to champion and implement antimicrobial stewardship actions.
- World AMR Awareness Week toolkit: a toolkit which goals to supply fast and ready-to-use materials to help your WAAW campaigns. The toolkit is concentrated on digital messaging to help velocity and ease of communication whereas together with all kinds of strategies for engagement with totally different teams of individuals.
