Antibiotic Resistance is a Global Health Crisis: URI’s LaPlante on Raising Awareness in RI
Antibiotic Resistance is a Global Health Crisis: URI’s LaPlante on Raising Awareness in RI
“The Rhode Island Department of Health in 2018 started this campaign to raise the importance of antibiotic awareness and hand hygiene. We focused on providers, caregivers, and patients in high traffic, prescribing offices throughout the state of Rhode Island,” said LaPlante. “It’s about being antibiotic aware — antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis. We find in America, every year, about two million patients develop an antibiotic-resistant infection — of which around 23,000 thousand people die annually from this drug-resistant bacteria.”
“Why does this happen? When antibiotics are used when they’re not needed. When you have a cold, or the flu, and you take antibiotics for a virus, they’re not going to do anything to help you out,” said LaPlante. “So antibiotic resistance is developed and the antibiotic pipeline for developing new antibiotics is dwindling.”
Read more about the program here.