(Please scroll down for links to winning essays)
The World Health Organization considers antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to be one of the greatest threats to global health. There is a fear among experts that antibiotics will increasingly fail to treat illnesses that they once cured easily. Yet the issue of AMR is invisible to and poorly understood by many.
The NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH), together with our partner institution Ngee Ann Polytechnic, organised a competition for school children centred on the issue of AMR.
In the essay segment, the theme was “Post-Antibiotic World”. How would the world look like in such a post-antibiotic situation? What are the ways people will do to live and cope with this situation? We are deeply grateful to our three distinguished judges – Mr Alvin Pang, Mr Tan Dan Feng and Dr Lau Quek Choon – as well as to the many students (and the teachers who encouraged them) who participated.
In the video segment, the theme was “Antibiotic Resistance: How It Impacts Us”. We were charmed and educated by the fine efforts of the students that participated, many of whom worked together in teams.
The winning entries for each segment were well conceived, beautifully written (essays) and expertly produced (videos). We are sure that you will enjoy these works, along with the others that narrowly failed to make it to the prize list, just as the judges and staff at SSHSPH did.
Video Essay
1. First winner: Riya Phillips’ team – Antibiotic resistant bacteria: what are they and what do they do
2. Second winner: Chin Qian Yin’s team – The lactobacillus rises
3. Merit winner: Lim Tong Wei’s team – Antibiotic resistance
4. Merit winner: Sean Leong’s team – Antibiotic resistance: how it impacts us
Written essay – Polytechnic/Junior College Category
1. First winner: Fong Khi Yung (Raffles Institution) – More by the microscopic than the colossal
2. Second winner: Brian Tan (Hwa Chong Institution) – Blood
3. Merit winner: Aeron Chua (Raffles Institution) – Post-antibiotic world
4. Merit winner: Quek Sze Yang (Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – Post-antibiotic world: the antibiotic apocalypse
Written essay – Secondary school Category
1. First winner: Chan Ger Hui (Dunman High School) – A post-antibiotic world
2. Second winner: Suhaina Yasmeen (Tanjong Katong Girls’ School) – The war between man and mutant
3. Merit winner: Asher Yeo Qiheng (Dunman High School) – Post-antibiotic world poem
4. Merit winner: Julianne Jessica Talens Leow (Tanjong Katong Girls’ School) – Antibiotic resistance, paralysis, and stewardship: the walking ecosphere’s destiny