“WHO aims to build health worker knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship”

“The World Health Organization, following up on its 3-year-old action plan to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR), yesterday released guidance to help ensure that health workers have the knowledge and skills they need for that effort.

The guidance is a 28-page document titled WHO Competence Framework for Health Workers’ Education and Training on Antimicrobial Resistance. It is intended mainly for education and training institutions, accreditation and licensing bodies, and authorities that make health policy.

Measures to improve healthcare workers’ education and training on AMR are listed as the first objective in the WHO’s global action plan on AMR, which was released in 2015, the document notes. It says that major gaps exist in the awareness of AMR and in the availability of technical resources to address the problem.

Among health workers, factors that can contribute to the overuse or miscues of antimicrobials include lack of knowledge; inability to identify the cause of an infection, leading to patient pressure to prescribe antibiotics; and “a preponderance of situations that allow for financial benefit from the supply of medicines,” the WHO says.”

Download the WHO Competence Framework for Health Workers’ Education and Training on Antimicrobial Resistance