An engaging and educational fresco to understand the challenges of antibiotic resistance
Understand the risks of antibiotic resistance in just 15 minutes! That’s the challenge proposed by the Biocodex Microbiota Institute with its first interactive digital fresco, designed to raise broad awareness about this global threat.
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It’s a silent pandemic that grows every year and could become, by 2050, the leading cause of death worldwide, ahead of cancer.
Antimicrobial resistance is under the spotlight of the World Health Organization, which has organized the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week every year since 2015. This initiative aims to raise awareness and improve understanding of antimicrobial resistance, while also promoting coordinated actions to combat the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
A cornerstone of scientific information and a key player in educating and training healthcare professionals and the general public on the importance of human microbiota, the Biocodex Microbiota Institute is taking part in this campaign for the sixth consecutive year by offering its audiences an educational, engaging, and interactive workshop: the first awareness mural on antibiotic resistance.
15 minutes to grasp the urgency and take action
Primarily intended for healthcare professionals (general practitioners, pharmacists, pediatricians, hospital staff, and healthcare students), the workshop is designed to be simple, visual, and participatory. It takes the form of a game with 60 cards that allow participants to reconstruct different antibiotic use scenarios and assess their consequences on multiple levels:
- microbiota,
- patient,
- healthcare system,
- society.
The complete workshop (facilitator’s guide and card game) is now available for free download.
The workshop then invites participants to take a step back and reflect on the global risks associated with antibiotic resistance (increasing deaths, pressure on research, and the potential return to a “post-antibiotic era”). Finally, it concludes on a positive note, focusing on concrete, multi-stakeholder solutions: prevention, vaccination, research, responsible prescribing, and the One Health approach. And for the first time, this tool is freely available accessible and downloadable by everyone.
A ready-to-use tool accessible to everyone
Developed in partnership with Querceo, the workshop was designed to be easy to implement:
- Short duration (15 minutes) and a format adaptable to groups of around ten participants
- Can be used during medical congresses, hospital meetings, university courses, or public events.
- No prior scientific knowledge is required.
- Freely accessible and available in 7 languages.
By making this tool accessible to everyone, the Biocodex Microbiota Institute aims to achieve several goals:
- Equip healthcare professionals to strengthen their role as mediators with patients and the public,
- Raise collective awareness around a major health and environmental issue,
- Encourage broad mobilization against antibiotic resistance, as everyone has a role to play.
A public-interest initiative confirmed by data from the Observatory
Recent data from the International Microbiota Observatory show that while awareness is improving, significant gaps remain.
Nearly 3 out of 4 people now know that antibiotics have an impact on their microbiota (73%, +4 points vs 2023). However, only 2 out of 5 patients report having received information from a healthcare professional about these effects (39%), and barely 38% say they were advised on how to limit the consequences.
“These figures reveal a concerning gap: while public awareness is growing, medical guidance on antibiotics remains insufficient.
This interactive and educational workshop is not meant to replace the information provided by healthcare professionals, but rather to offer an additional way of understanding the issue. Its goal is clear: to strengthen dialogue between healthcare providers and patients, and to raise broader public awareness of this major health challenge one that shapes today’s medicine and will determine the health of future generations.”
The Biocodex Microbiota Institute is an international knowledge hub dedicated to human microbiota. The Institute communicates with its users in seven languages, targeting both healthcare professionals and the general public with the aim of raising awareness about the vital role this organ plays in our health. The Biocodex Microbiota Institute’s primary mission is educational: to spread the word about the importance of microbiota for everyone.
Querceo is a consulting firm that takes a collaborative and systemic approach to supporting organizations through the ecological transition. By creating and disseminating awareness-raising workshops, such as the Biodiversity Mural, the One Health Mural, or the SiNergie workshop, Querceo helps mobilize organizations, enabling each individual to understand and take ownership of the major challenges of tomorrow.
Everything you need to know about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance
