European Antibiotics Awareness Day — how nurses can help
Abstract
European antibiotic awareness day was held on 18th November. Steve Eldridge, Policy Advisor in the Antimicrobial Resistance Team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) explains what this means for veterinary nurses.
The European Antibiotics Awareness Day (EAAD), held on the 18th of November, aims to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the importance of responsible antibiotic use. For a number of years UK EAAD activities have been led by the medical profession, co-ordinated by the Department of Health. However this year the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) have joined forces with our human health colleagues and are working in close collaboration with a number of animal health and welfare organisations to promote key messages around the responsible use of antibiotics.
The importance of antibiotic resistance has been recognised for many years; however the need to accelerate progress in this area has been highlighted recently, in particular by the most recent annual report of the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, who has ranked antibiotic resistance alongside terrorism as a threat to the UK. In response the cross-governmental UK 5 Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018 has been published, which sets out ways to slow down the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
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