2016-10-26
28 April 2015
Today, the ReAct network launches their Toolbox: a web-based resource offering hands-on advice and a comprehensive practical framework, to facilitate efforts toward managing the issue of antibiotic resistance.
A sustainable repository of information on the core components needed to address the pressing issue of antibiotic resistance is missing. The surrounding sense of urgency is growing by the minute, and takes on increasingly palpable dimensions. Without immediate action, we will soon have to face severe social, economic, and medical setbacks, threatening the achievements of modern medicine; including major surgery, organ transplantation, neonatal care, and cancer chemotherapy – none of which is possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections.
In an effort to fill the repository void, boost awareness, and stoke some much-needed action, ReAct Europe spent the last year channeling their expertise to create a Toolbox for taking action on antibiotic resistance. The Toolbox features input from the whole ReAct network, as well as that of other important stakeholders. The freshly gathered and ever-evolving contents will include an abundance of advice along with real-life, expert narratives, focusing on aspects such as understanding the issue, raising awareness, and promoting rational use of antibiotics.
The Toolbox is aimed at all stakeholders interested in taking action on antibiotic resistance; often including health care professionals, civil society organizations, policy makers, and educators. “It’s not about who you are, but what you want to do. These are important groups that we want to reach out to, as they might already be working in a way related to the issue, and could be interested in getting more involved”, Bronwen Holloway, Project Manager at ReAct Europe, explains.
The ReAct network, with presence on five continents, works independently in promoting concerted action on antibiotic resistance. Aspiring on profound change in awareness and action to manage the forces that drive the rising rate of resistant infections, as well as the rapid spread of resistance within and between communities and countries, their vision is a world free from fear of untreatable infections. “Antibiotic resistance concerns all of us, and everybody can do something to help manage the problem, and find solutions. With the Toolbox, we hope to help facilitate this”, concludes Dr. Anna Zorzet, coordinator of ReAct Europe.
To access the Toolbox directly, click here.
To read this press release as a PDF, please click here (PDF).