About

The Seriously movement started with a student campaign, an outbreak of Super Gonorrhoea grabbed the attention of the city and held it. What had caused this outbreak…. Antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic Resistance is not a new phenomena but a global threat that has developed over years, a silent pandemic which will send all of our medical advancements back decades, unless we start to take antibiotics seriously.

As the threat has grown, so has the conversation. In 2015, The World Health Organisation established a global action plan to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines. With a key objective to ‘improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training.’

In 2017, Public Health England (as was known), launched their national campaign ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ to reduce inappropriate prescriptions in the UK. One by one, area by area, new campaigns have joined the conversation.

The Seriously campaign was born out of the idea that, for the most part, the general public aren’t aware of this serious issue, they aren’t aware of the small actions they can take or the huge changes needed from key policy makers to protect this treatment for the future.

Working with healthcare professionals, educators, scientists, councils, employers, community groups and individuals, the Seriously messages have been shared across Leeds, Sunderland, South Tyneside and County Durham and the journey continues.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the unimaginable impact a disease can have on our daily lives and emphasised even more, the importance of campaigns like Seriously to prevent the antibiotic pandemic of the future.

And now, just as the bacteria are evolving, so must Seriously. We need to change, challenge and drive action if we are to protect this life saving treatment.

Seriously will bring people together, in collective action to #TakeAntibioticsSeriously.