…as Seke High 1 are crowned champions
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) awareness high schools soccer tournament which was part of the continental celebration of the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) 2023 in Harare, lived to its expectations as many people from different community backgrounds attended.
The tournament which was held at Prince Edward High School on Sunday (November 19), saw several schools battling out for the honours but the glory was to belong to Seke High 1 who were crowned champions.
Seke High 1 defeated Glen Norah 2 High in finals which were decided by the dreaded penalties.
Speaking on the sidelines of the final match, Dr Mohamed Sirdar, Sub Regional Programme Coordinator for Southern Africa at World Health Organisation for Animal Health, said he was happy that the event lived to their expectations.
“The soccer tournament was creating awareness on antimicrobial resistance and its effect on our health systems, either for the humans, animals and environmental plants.
“And we hope that awareness to the high school pupils or students is one of the powerful tools so that we can have the message spread in the community and thats why we chose football for the high schools for this tournament to be able to enhance awareness on AMR in Zimbabwe.”
Dr Sirdar added that having many people from various community backgrounds was the icing on the cake as the message was being delivered to many people.
“Given that we have almost 500 spectators, having people from different community backgrounds and also we are happy one of the football legends Oscar (Machapa) is here with us and having also some of our representatives from all these organisations.
“So I can say we believe that we have exceeded our expectations,” said Dr Sirdar.
And indeed the AMR message was really being emphasized at the tournament as the talented soccer commentator was also spreading the message as he went about his commentary much to the appreciation of the crowd.
And the message was also clearly spread to the students as some of those interviewed by this reporter spoke on the dangers of abusing medication.
“This subject (AMR) was new to me but I’m happy that I have learnt that we should not self medicate, I have also learnt that I should use the right medication for the disease and only after being prescribed by the doctor,” said one student.
Zimbabwe with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), in partnership with African Union agencies, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU IBAR) is hosting WAAW 2023 with several events lined up.
The commemorations which started on November 18 and will end this Friday, are running under the theme, “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together”, which emphasizes the importance of collective action to address the global health challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
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