European Antibiotic Awareness Day EAAD was held on 18 November 2020 with activities taking place during that week. As in previous years, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) actively contributed to raising awareness about Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and how to limit it by publishing a set of infocards, developed to reinforce global cooperation to combat AMR.
EAAD is an annual European Union initiative to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance as an increasing global public health threat and to promote the prudent use of antibiotics.
‘Tackling antimicrobial resistance is a global challenge and a high priority for EMA and the European medicines regulatory network. We all have a role to play in addressing this challenge: regulators, governments, companies through development of new innovative antibiotics, but also healthcare professionals and patients by making sure they prescribe and use antibiotics wisely and responsibly’ said Emer Cooke, EMA’s Executive Director.
To mark EAAD, the EMA launched a social media campaign to highlight the importance of using antibiotics prudently.
A set of info-cards focuses on what patients, healthcare professionals, veterinarians, health-leaders, journalists and the pharmaceutical industry in their respective roles can do on a daily basis to make sure that these important medicines are used wisely.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and other microorganisms change over time and develop resistance to medicines. As a result, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become less effective. This makes infections harder and harder to treat. A prudent use of antibiotics helps slow the process and ensure that treatments continue to be available to treat common and emerging infectious diseases.
For more information on the EMA’s role in the global response to antimicrobial resistance, see Antimicrobial resistance.
You can see examples of the cards below. The full set of these infocards is downloadable on this link.
No comments:
Post a Comment