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European Antibiotics Awareness Day (EAAD) The European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) is a European health initiative coordinated with the involvement of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) that aims to provide a platform and support for national campaigns about prudent antibiotic use. It falls in the week of 18 November every year and sets the date for the launch of national campaigns.

History

In November 2001, the European Union (EU) Health Ministers adopted a Council Recommendation on the prudent use of antimicrobial agents in human medicine which stated that EU Member States should inform the general public of the importance of prudent use of antimicrobial agents by, in particular, raising awareness of the problem of antimicrobial resistance and encouraging realistic public expectations for the prescription of antimicrobial agents.

Belgium and France then launched national awareness campaigns to educate the public and primary care prescribers about appropriate outpatient antibiotic use have successfully resulted in a decrease in antibiotic prescriptions.

The success of these campaigns stimulated a European initiative coordinated by ECDC, and named “European Antibiotic Awareness Day” (EAAD), to take place each year on 18 November.