Gloucestershire College students – winning against antibiotic resistance by | Gloucester News Centre - http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk/
Students from Gloucestershire College will see their winning competition entry, turned into a county wide awareness campaign.
Gloucestershire County Council contacted over 40 schools and colleges across the county inviting them to submit entries to a competition aimed at raising awareness of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is a global problem. There are more superbugs evolving and current antibiotics have become less effective. This will lead to medical procedures becoming dangerous and simple injuries or minor infections could be fatal.
If things don’t change now, by 2050, 90,000 people in the UK will have died from antibiotic resistance.
Sixteen to twenty four year olds are amongst the highest misusers of antibiotics, which is why this age group were approached to design a campaign. The winning team from Gloucestershire College will see their concept become reality across a county wide awareness campaign.
Cllr Tim Harman, cabinet member for public health and communities at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “This competition was an excellent way of engaging with sixteen – twenty four year olds about this very serious global issue. I hope the campaign is a resounding success and I congratulate the winning team.”
Jamie Ackrill, graphic design student at Gloucestershire College who led the winning team said, “We wanted people our age to appreciate how important this issue is and couldn’t wait to enter the competition. We’ve put the skills we’ve developed from our studies into practise and it is amazing to see our campaign come to life across Gloucestershire.”
Sarah Scott, Director of Public Health for Gloucestershire “Resistance to antibiotics is a major threat to the health of people in Gloucestershire. There are some simple key actions that people can take to protect themselves, their families and our community, such as: good hand hygiene; keeping vaccinations up to date and understanding that antibiotics are not always the answer. It is great to see our young adults in Gloucestershire leading this important fight”.
