Source: Health Quality and Safety Commission
School children in years five to eight are fighting germs as part of a nationwide poster competition about antibiotic resistance.
Students are encouraged to create a poster highlighting either antibiotic resistance or hand washing. The idea is to help them learn about simple hand hygiene (washing hands with soap and water, or using hand sanitiser) and why it is important, to stop the spread of germs that cause infections.
We also want them to learn about antibiotics, and how they only kill bacteria – not viruses, which cause colds and the flu.
Antibiotics are essential for treating bacterial infections – protecting antibiotics so they continue to work when we need them is a global issue, and can affect anyone at any time.
The competition is being promoted as part of the Health Quality & Safety Commission’s annual Patient Safety Week, in partnership with ACC and the Ministry of Health. The winners will be announced and promoted during Patient Safety Week (4–10 November) and World Antibiotic Awareness Week (12–18 November).
There will be four winners (one from each region) and an overall national winner chosen from that group. The grand prize is a trip to Wellington to experience science in action.
One lucky winner will win a trip to Wellington, where they will spend time with microbiologists and other specialists working hard to protect antibiotics. They will learn about antibiotics and how they work, and even grow their own germs in the lab
With strong links to the science curriculum, the poster competition was modelled on a project run by Wellington South Intermediate School head science teacher, Matt Boucher. The project ‘Raising antibiotic awareness with school kids in New Zealand – a first step on a long journey’, was highly commended in the Antibiotic Guardia Awards 2018, judged recently in the United Kingdom.
The poster competition is open now and closes on Friday 28 September 2018. The information pack is available below.