Institute for Medicines and Medical Devices (CInMED) participates in global campaign led by World Health Organization (WHO) which celebrates the Antimicrobial Awareness Week every year from 18 to 24 November. This year, the theme of the campaign is “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together”.

Antimicrobial resistance is a resistance of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi) to antimicrobial medicines, while the resistance of bacteria to the action of antibiotics is referred to as an antibiotic resistance. Excessive, improper and unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals and humans favors the development of antibiotic resistance, which represents a global problem and a serious danger to human health. The number of infections cauesed by bacteria resistant to the action of antibiotics is on the rise, while the number of new available antibiotics is not large, which increases the threat that antibiotic resistance represents to our health.

Due to mentioned reasons, we encourage all healthcare professionals and patients to use antibiotics rationally and responsibly:

• antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but not infections caused by viruses
• antibiotics do not reduce fever
• antibiotics are prescription medicines
• antibiotics should be used only when prescribed by a doctor, at regular intervals, for as long as the doctor has prescribed.

Educational material prepared by CInMED on this occasion is available here.