How have antibiotics helped you and your family?
The Fleming Initiative is calling for people to help raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), by being part of an innovative new billboard campaign at London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights. The campaign will launch on 18 November to mark the start of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW).
Do you have a story about how antibiotics have helped you and your family? Perhaps they kept you safe during childbirth, surgery, or cancer treatment? Or helped you or your family recover from a serious infection?
The Fleming Initiative, established by Imperial College Healthcare and Imperial College London, is inviting colleagues, patients, and members of the public worldwide to share their experiences of antibiotics, alongside a photo. Selected submissions will light up Piccadilly Circus as part of this high-profile campaign, placing your story at the centre of the global conversation on AMR.
Submitting your story is simple – just complete a short online survey and upload an image. There’s no limit to the number of submissions you can make. If you are unsure how antibiotics or other antimicrobials may have helped you, the online submission form will guide you with examples and further information.
What is AMR?
AMR is responsible for approximately 1.3 million deaths globally each year, and occurs when microbes develop resistance to the drugs we use to treat and prevent infections. One in five deaths attributable to AMR occur in children under five years old and AMR mortality among adults aged 70 and over is rapidly accelerating.
Professor Alison Holmes, director of the Fleming Initiative, said: “Every one of us has an individual connection to antibiotics and a personal debt of gratitude for their importance in treating infections or preventing them when needed. We have depended on them being effective in our own lives, and in the life history of our families. Whether they helped beat a serious infection, or enabled the safe delivery of a baby, or the safe treatment of cancer therapy, we have all depended on them.
“Today, we are calling on members of the public to help us shine a light on the urgent need to ensure that antibiotics remain effective, by celebrating their own experiences and gratitude. By sharing stories, we can raise awareness of this urgent health crisis and be a part of the global movement to tackle AMR.”
Professor the Lord Ara Darzi, executive chair of the Fleming Initiative concluded: “Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health threats facing the global population, but it is one we can overcome together.
“As a cancer surgeon, I have seen first-hand how vital antibiotics are: cancer patients face ten times the risk of sepsis, and without antibiotics, chemotherapy and surgery simply cannot be delivered safely. We cannot take them for granted.
“That is why the Fleming Initiative is bringing together science, policy and - most importantly - the public to find innovative solutions to this crisis. By sharing our experiences, this campaign will help spark a global movement to keep antibiotics working and safeguard the future of healthcare for generations to come.”
What is the Fleming Initiative?
Jointly established by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the Fleming Initiative brings together scientists, policymakers, clinicians, commercial partners and the public to provide equitable solutions to antimicrobial resistance at a global scale.
* The billboard slot was kindly gifted to the Fleming Initiative, with any associated costs covered through philanthropic donations.
