Each year antibiotics save millions of lives. However, the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria represents a serious threat to the public's health and the economy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that annually in the United States, antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause at least two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths.1 These figures will only continue to escalate if effective solutions cannot be implemented to curb inappropriate antibiotic use.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of CDC, states in the National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (National Strategy): “Every day we don’t act to better protect antibiotics will make it harder and more expensive to address drug-resistance in the future. Drug- resistance can undermine both our ability to fight infectious diseases and much of modern medicine. Patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, dialysis for renal failure, and increasingly common treatments for diseases such as arthritis depend on antibiotics so common infectious complications can be treated effectively.”
In a continuing effort to foster appropriate antibiotic stewardship, the Public Health Foundation (PHF) is sharing President Obama's September 2014
Executive Order to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (Executive Order) in the United States. This Executive Order, which will be implemented through the National Strategy, stresses the need for federal agencies to work domestically and internationally on a coordinated effort to detect, prevent, and control antibiotic resistance. The National Strategy consists of five interrelated goals that target core antibiotic resistance issues:
- Slow the emergence of resistant bacteria and prevent the spread of resistant infections
- Strengthen national One-Health surveillance efforts to combat resistance
- Advance development and use of rapid and innovative diagnostic tests for identification and characterization of resistant bacteria
- Accelerate basic and applied research and development for new antibiotics, other therapeutics, and vaccines
- Improve international collaboration and capacities for antibiotic-resistance prevention, surveillance, control, and antibiotic research and development
PHF also recognizes the importance of multi-sector partnerships and initiatives within the community to combat this issue. Since 2001, PHF has partnered with CDC's
Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign to raise awareness about and encourage appropriate prescription and use of antibiotics. A part of this promotion includes CDC's
Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, November 17-23, 2014, an annual effort to coordinate the work of CDC's
Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign, state-based appropriate antibiotic use campaigns, hospitals, non-profit partners, private-sector organizations, pharmacies, and health departments.
Get Smart Week has met with large success in dissemination of educational materials and messages, media interest, and partner satisfaction.
PHF’s
Antibiotic Stewardship Program grew out of PHF’s partnership with CDC and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to develop a framework of key drivers for reducing inappropriate antibiotic utilization in hospitals and other healthcare settings. PHF has contributed to efforts against antibiotic resistance by developing and piloting the
Public Health Antibiotic Stewardship Driver Diagram, which can be used collaboratively by public health, healthcare, and other organizations to address this community health issue.
Access additional tools and resources regarding antibiotic stewardship:
Additional resources:
1. "Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013"