Co-designing a new name for AMR with the public

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is often referred to as “the silent pandemic”. Antibiotics, vital for treating all manner of bacterial infections, are becoming increasingly ineffective as bacteria develop sophisticated mechanisms of AMR. This can lead to prolonged and severe infections, illness and even death – it has been predicted that there will be up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050 if we do not mitigate this crisis.
Human behaviour is a significant contributor to the aetiology of the AMR crisis . Poor compliance with antibiotic prescriptions, requesting / providing antibiotics for illnesses where they are not indicated and the use of antibiotics in food production are all significant contributors. It is very likely that the public are not aware of the significance of their actions in contributing to the AMR crisis – in fact, we anticipate that many individuals would not know what AMR is, and certainly not be aware of its significance. Achieving widespread behaviour change within the public, both as individuals and global citizens is crucial in the mitigation of this silent pandemic – we cannot rely on new drug discovery and scientific advances alone.

This project worked with members of the public to explore current understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance, co-design new names for the crisis, and designed an online randomised control trial to evaluate their impact on attitudes towards AMR, comprehension, recall and intent regarding future antibiotic use