European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), on 18 November 2012, is a Europe-wide public health initiative aimed at encouraging responsible use of antibiotics.
It is supported in England by the Department of Health and its advisory committee on antimicrobial resistance and health care associated infections (ARHAI).
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has created information and educational materials for use in hospitals and primary care settings and these have been adapted for use in England.
You can use these educational materials to help support your local activity on EAAD and to promote responsible use of antibiotics. There is a key messages document, 3 posters and a leaflet for use in primary or secondary care. Specific resources for primary and secondary care are also listed.
Key messages on antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance Department of Health key messages (PDF, 34K)
Posters and leaflet
There are 3 posters and a leaflet that can be downloaded:
- Poster: Antibiotics will not get rid of your cold (ref 290980) (PDF, 39K)
- Poster: Antibiotics won’t help your defences (ref 290981) (PDF, 40K)
- Poster: If a cold is making you feel under the weather, antibiotics aren’t going to help (ref 290982) (PDF, 40K)
- Leaflet: Get well soon without antibiotics (ref 284682) (PDF, 90K)
Limited stocks of hard-copy versions of the first 2 posters and leaflet are available for order from Prolog by calling 0300 123 1002 or via the DH publications orderline by quoting the appropriate reference number. Non-English language versions of the leaflet are also available.
Resources for use in primary care
Antibiotic awareness videos
Short videos are being screened again this year on the Life Channel in GP surgeries. These are a light-hearted way of reminding people to “take care, not antibiotics” for use in GP surgeries and other waiting areas. The antibiotic videos are available via YouTube.
You can download the audio from the antibiotic videos and the videos are also available in wmv format.
Posters, leaflets and factsheets
In addition to the videos, posters and leaflet detailed above, a factsheet and a centre piece poster can also be downloaded:
- Primary Care factsheet – Antibiotic resistance factsheet for primary care prescribers and managers (PDF, 299K)
- Centre piece poster – GP surgeries and clinics: A centre piece poster (with EAAD logo) that can be used for public awareness display boards in GP surgeries and clinics) (PPT, 443K)
New resources for 2012
The following new resources are being developed and will be available from November:
- Website banner for primary care (PDF, 354K) – this promotes the ‘TARGET antibiotics’ website which goes live in November
- Royal College of General Practitioners Toolkit ‘TARGET Antibiotics’ will be available on the Royal College of General Practitioners website
Resources for use in secondary care
In addition to the videos, posters and leaflet detailed above, the following resources can also be downloaded:
- Secondary care factsheet – aimed at hospital prescribers and managers detailing main issues surrounding antibiotic resistance (PDF, 761K)
- Secondary care prescribers checklist – A useful reminder for hospital prescribers of the main considerations for responsible prescribing (PDF, 61K)
- Centre piece poster – hospital staff and patients: A centre piece poster (with logo) that can be used for public awareness display boards in hospitals. (PPT, 444K)
- Website banner- Photoshop version (PSD, 883K)
- Website banner- Adobe Illustrator version (AI, 173K)
- ARHAI guidance on antimicrobial stewardship: Start smart – then focus
Other useful links
You might also find these links useful:
- Read the updates given to the NHS about European Antibiotic Awareness Day (letters to the NHS)
- Visit E-Bug – the educational tool about infections for schools
- More materials are available through the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- NHS Choices provides information for patients and the public
- Patient.co.uk provides some useful information on antibiotics
