The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease (PFID) launched last year with the goal of advancing awareness on the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR, aka “superbugs”) and the critical need for federal policy solutions to address this threat. Since our launch, the need to get ahead of pandemics like COVID-19 has never been more apparent. We have worked alongside our esteemed Advisory Board and partner organizations to raise awareness of the threats of AMR and help ensure that policymakers understand the changes needed now to help solve this escalating problem.
This month marks one year since COVID-19 upended life as we knew it. As we all reflect on the past year, PFID is declaring March 18 the Squash Superbugs Day of Action and calling on policymakers to #squashsuperbugs and act now to help prevent this crisis. As past pandemics have shown, secondary bacterial and fungal infections that follow viral infections are often the leading cause of death. The absence of new medicines to fight these types of infections may prove far more detrimental to human health under a future pandemic than even COVID-19.
The past year has revealed what’s at stake when the United States is not prepared for global health emergencies. It has also brought to light the collateral health care issues a pandemic can produce. Unfortunately, new antibiotic and antifungal drug development is declining at a time when we need it most. Already, drug-resistant bacteria and fungi infect 2.8 million Americans each year, claiming as many as 35,000 lives.
Unlike COVID-19, we can see this threat materializing and know the steps we need to take to solve this problem. What we need is for policymakers to act. Policy proposals under consideration by Congress represent essential steps that can and should be taken to support pandemic preparedness. Failure to do so is to ignore the rising threat of “superbugs” that endanger us all.
By making March 18 a day of action to raise awareness of the need to #squashsuperbugs we can all do our part to prepare and perhaps even prevent a future pandemic due to antibiotic resistance.
Please help us raise awareness by sharing this post or any of the content below with the hashtag #SquashSuperbugs.
Downloadable #SquashSuperbugs social media tiles:
Sample social media content:
On #SquashSuperbugs Day and throughout the year, @ThePFID & partners support efforts to ensure the development and availability of effective antibiotic treatments globally and here at home so we can address the growing problem of #AMR.
March 18 is #SquashSuperbugs Day. #AMR is a growing problem across the globe, and orgs like @ThePIFD are working to address the issue. Learn more at: fightinfectiousdisease.org/amr.
Unlike #COVID19, we can and must take steps to prepare for the next pandemic: #AMR. On #SquashSuperbugs Day, join @ThePFID to raise awareness of the growing threat #antibioticresistance poses.
Have you or a loved one struggled w/ an #antibioticresistant infection? Share your #FacesofAMR story so others can better understand this increasing public health threat. Protect yourself and others by raising awareness of the urgency to #SquashSuperbugs. fightinfectiousdisease.org/amr.