Thank you health chiefs for your not in any way patronising antibiotics campaign
People aged 18-34 don't understand ordinary boring old information, so hats off to the UK Health Security Agency for creating lovable new character Andi Biotic
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The Barrie Hudson Column
Barrie Hudson is a known quantity when it comes to writing words. Sometimes he even spells them correctly. In fact he has been writing words in the Swindon area for more than two decades. First of all for the Swindon Advertiser and then for Swindon Link and now for The Ink. Here are some of his words…
People aged 18-34, like ordinary people in general, can only understand the simplest words and images
I know many people think I’m an old grump with seldom a kind word for those in charge, but as I’ve said before I firmly believing in giving credit where credit’s due.
That is why I want to take a few paragraphs to voice my strong praise for a very important organisation called the UK Health Security Agency, or UKHSA.
Much of the UKHSA’s time is taken up with organising campaigns which highlight ways in which we, the general public, can avoid unnecessarily falling ill, and its latest effort is a campaign aimed at people aged 18 to 34 in particular to help keep antibiotics working for all and tackle the threat of antibiotic resistance.
You see, antibiotic resistance, caused by misuse and misconceptions about the drugs among the public, can make those drugs less effective in tackling the serious and in some instances life-threatening medical conditions they were developed to treat.
The UKHSA has issued three pieces of advice as to how people can do their bit, which are:
Not taking antibiotics for colds and flu, which they don’t work for, and this remains one of the biggest misconceptions about taking antibiotics
Only taking antibiotics when you have been prescribed them and taking them as directed by a healthcare professional
Not saving antibiotics for future use
However, the organisation has determined, quite rightly, that these three pieces of information are simply far too complicated for the fragile brains and attention spans of people aged 18 to 34, and that rather than simply being capable of absorbing them like the rest of us, they need something bright and shiny to help the advice to take root.