using antibiotics without prescription from medical experts is one of the major problems causing antibiotic resistance across the world leading to greater challenges in health management

using antibiotics without prescription from medical experts is one of the major problems causing antibiotic resistance across the world leading to greater challenges in health management.

The experts also said lack of effective regulation and implementation of government policies and guidelines on the use and sale of drugs also cause high rise in drug abuse and antibiotic resistance.

Omotayo Hamzat, the National Professional Officer, Essential Drugs and Medicine, World Health Organisation, WHO, during a press briefing at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Tuesday, in Abuja said the problem Nigeria is facing on antibiotic resistance is not the lack of policies but non-implementation and lack of regulation of available ones.

The press briefing was to commemorate the World Antibiotics Awareness Week, WAAW, which celebrated November 13-19. The theme of this year, being the maiden edition is “Handle Antibiotics with Care – think twice, seek advice”.

There is an increasing global problem of antimicrobial resistance, whereby antibiotics are no longer effective for the treatment of infectious diseases which they were specifically designed to fight. Concerns about growing global antibiotic resistance have plunged into new depths as the World Health Organisation, WHO, is now warning that the world is ”running out of antibiotics.”

Antibiotics, known as antibacterials, are drugs that destroy or slow down the growth of bacteria. They are meant to be used in treating specific types of bacteria and in general cannot be interchanged to treat any infection other than that they were designed for. But today they are indiscriminately used to treat diverse kinds of ailments.

The experts lamented that people now use antibiotics to treat infections like cold, flu, cough, and at times sore throat, caused by viruses.

Mr. Hamzat urged Nigerians to desist from self medication and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in other to reduce the threat of antibiotics resistance in their bodies.

“When we were younger, what we knew of was Septrin and Flagyl and those diseases that these drugs cure in those days. You realise in these days that you have to take a stronger antibiotics because we have abused the drugs. It (drug) is open and access is free without any investigation done on what is wrong.