This year, to celebrate World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW), we taught our Youth Ambassadors about antibiotics – what they are, proper use, misuse and abuse, as well as the risk of antibiotic resistance.

DRASA Youth Ambassadors with Youth Trainer Temitope and Nurse Irabor

Who are our Youth Ambassadors?
These are members of the DRASA Health and Hygiene Clubs which we have established and are managing in select secondary schools. We meet with these students every 2 weeks to teach them and engage in activities related to personal health and hygiene, food safety, environmental sanitation, and more. We are equipping and training them to become drivers of positive health and hygiene-related behavior change within their schools, families, and wider communities.

DRASA Youth Ambassadors with Youth Trainer Funmi

How did we celebrate World Antibiotic Awareness Week?
Due to the sensitivity and importance of the topic of antibiotic resistance, we decided to celebrate it all month long! So throughout November we covered several related topics and engaged our Ambassadors with fun activities.

DRASA Youth Ambassadors with a poster on antibiotic resistance from the World Health Organization (WHO)

On Wednesday 14th November, we surprised Ambassadors in 2 schools with some special guests: nurses! Nurse Doris and Nurse Irabor from the Nigeria Infection Control Association (NICA) accompanied us to meet with the students for their weekly Club meeting.

DRASA Youth Ambassadors listening to Nurse Doris sharing her real life experiences with antibiotic resistance

The nurses shared some true life experiences of what they’ve seen in their patients and in hospitals when antibiotics are abused or misused. They also supported our Ambassadors as they worked on their assignment for the month: creating a “supergerm” or “superbug” comic character that tells the story of antibiotic abuse and antibiotic resistance.

DRASA Ambassador working on her supergerm (superbug) comic and story

It was exciting to see our Ambassadors ask questions about antibiotics and learn about how their actions can lead to antibiotic resistance.

DRASA Youth Ambassadors working together on their supergerm (superbug) comic and story with Nurse Irabor

Overall, it was a great month of learning for our Ambassadors. As one of them said, “I have learnt about what antibiotics are, what bacteria is, types of bacteria, types of antibiotics, when to use them, how to take care of ourselves and how to prevent disease through proper hand washing.”
-Erhuanga Glorious, SS2C, Ansar-Ud-Deen Senior High School, Lagos, Nigeria