Development and Assessment of Awareness Module on ‘Antimicrobial Resistance and its Prevention’ for School Students in Punjab, India

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the pressing public health issues. Sharing information on AMR with school students will educate and inspire them to act as community ambassadors. The present study was carried out in the form of capacity-building workshops among school children of the Ludhiana district of Punjab, India. Three workshops were organized in three different higher secondary schools for 11th and 12th standard students (medical stream). Each workshop session included an interactive teaching module on basic microbiology, AMR, factors involved in AMR emergence, ‘One Health’ approach to address AMR, and how we can contribute to the community. The learning outcomes were evaluated based on pre and postworkshop assessment questionnaires. A total of 138 students participated in the workshops with an average duration of around 3.5 hours. Among all the students, 68.84% were not aware of the meaning of ‘antibiotic resistance’ and 78.26% believed that antibiotics can cure all coughs and colds. Furthermore, 82.61% of students never heard the term ‘superbugs’ and 71.74% were not able to identify the factors for AMR emergence. The success of teaching workshops was assessed by significant improvement in the correct responses during the post-workshop quiz, where the median post-workshop score (i.e., 14/15) was significantly improved as compared to the pre-workshop score (i.e., 08/15). We propose that the concepts of AMR must be included in school curricula so that young students can be ‘superheroes’ in bringing about desired changes in the community.