The power of words can change how we accept science
Science opens our eyes. But could one ever be blinded by it? One would think not, until that is, the WHO found answering evidence in its 2015 multi-country survey.
Conducted across 12 countries (including India) to test the awareness of adults (16 plus years) on one of the most sordid health threats faced by the human race — of antibiotic resistance and the rise of the superbugs — this is what the survey indicated.
For 43 per cent of respondents, self-prescription of antibiotics was acceptable if they fell sick, and antibiotics helped them get well, when they had the same symptoms before. 25 per cent said they would confidently advise a friend or a family member to use the antibiotic that helped them fight sickness, as long as the symptoms looked familiar and similar.
32 per cent said they would drop out of the antibiotics treatment course as soon as they felt better. Both situations, howsoever logical they may appear, are precisely the reasons for emergence of superbugs, or antibiotic-resistant varieties of disease-causing bacteria.
The entire world is under the threat of antibiotic resistance. For India, the colour of threat is deep crimson. This is a health emergency: Code Red. India’s Health Ministry recently shirked off its inertia. Encouragingly enough, it acknowledged the do-or-die juncture that our country has reached on this matter. The Ministry chaired an inter-ministerial brainstorming session on how to tackle this time-bomb of a health issue that has already begun to explode at many places in the country.
Back to the cause of blindness. 80 percent of the survey respondents weren’t aware of the term "anti-microbial resistance" or the abbreviation "AMR" — the terms issued by the WHO and other health advisory and action groups in all communication to the general public on this matter.
The 2016 UN General Assembly also recorded the declaration of "antimicrobial resistance/AMR" as the greatest future threat to our civilisation.
Both the terms, however, are considered too scientific and complex by the public — instant brain-shutters, promptly pulling down blinders to block any further interest on the topic, leave alone engagement, concern, panic and fear.
That’s the power of words. For instance, it has been well-proven in the past that the term "global warming" emanates a more powerful sense of personal threat for Americans than a call for action against "climate change", which sounds like just another worldly issue for the political debates.
"Climate change" creates mind-associations with weather changes, while "global warming" generates an imagery of melting glaciers or apocalyptic floods in one’s mind.
Yesterday, in a commentary published in the journal Nature, Marc Mendelson (Professor, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues have urged the United Nations Interagency Group to acknowledge the power of words.
They advise the UN and the WHO to replace "AMR" simply with "drug resistance", a term more relatable for people to seriously associate the imminent danger linked with it.
Another study by the Wellcome Trust supports the above advice.
This UK-focused research confirmed that people in the UK don't understand the concept of antibiotic resistance. The language used by scientists and media have left many confused, and several others to believe that it’s they (and not the germs), who develop resistance against antibiotics, if not taken as directed by the physician. A lethal misconception.
These scientists write: "The interchangeable use of terms by the press and by scientists in publications and meetings is likely to be counterproductive in all sorts of contexts. Take food production. In recent years, different sectors have called on countries to phase out or abolish the 'antimicrobials' used to promote animal growth, to protect humans from increasing levels of drug-resistant bacteria. But, by definition, antimicrobials include medicines that play a crucial role in sustaining current levels of poultry production worldwide by reducing the gut inflammation caused by coccidian parasites. Anticoccidial medicines have no effect on bacteria, and do not drive bacterial resistance in humans or other animals. So a demand to abolish all antimicrobials for growth promotion misses the point and could potentially harm food security.”
"Simple, clear and unambiguous terminology would help to ensure that the global effort against drug resistance is focused on the greatest immediate challenge: the rise of drug-resistant bacteria that cause common illnesses, resulting from the high use of antibiotics by humans. It could also improve people's understanding and engagement."
Would this change lift the blinders? Will we, the general public, mend our ways? Time will tell. The power of words is unpredictably magical, indeed. And sometimes, just sometimes, science needs to scare.