Smart Regulation of Antibiotic Use in India Blog: Effective public communication - making sense of a public health challenge
Mon 6 January 2020
Improving awareness and understanding of AMR through effective communication, education and training is the very first objective of the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2015 as well as the Government of India’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2017. The measures include public communication programmes such as an annual antibiotic awareness campaign (in November), inclusion in school curricula and media reports. The nature and quality of these various forms of communication is a critical factor.
In October 2019, the Wellcome Trust, the UK-based philanthropy organisation, released a report (Reframing resistance: How to communicate about antimicrobial resistance effectively) highlighting the link between the way experts and the media talk about AMR on one hand, and public understanding, engagement and support on the other. This report was based on interviews with stakeholders, analysis of social media and focus groups held in seven countries including India.
The report sets out five principles to rethink AMR communication:
- Frame AMR as a problem that undermines modern medicine
- Explain the fundamentals succinctly, using non-technical language
- Emphasise that this is a universal issue; it can affect anyone
- Focus on the here and now
- Encourage immediate action
Law- and policymakers ought to bear these principles in mind during the design phase of legally binding and non-binding regulatory interventions to address AMR in human and animal health as well as the environment. These principles should also inform the efforts of implementers of these interventions.