Pharmacovigilance

European Antibiotic Awareness Day

17.11.2014

The European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) is manifested on 18 November every year. This manifestation is organised by the European Centre for Diesease Control and Prevention (ECDC) aimed at raising awareness on microorganism resistance to antibiotics and importance of their rational use.

HALMED is monitoring from the close the antibiotic use in Croatia and appeals on their rational and correct use. The correct use of antibiotics will preserve their activity, enforce their clinical efficacy and reduce the potential for antibiotic resistance, thus in the end resulting in reduction in morbidity and mortality due to infections caused by resistant bacteria.

During marketing authorisation procedure, the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (HALMED) authorises indications for using a certain medicine. Antibiotics are indicated in bacterial infections, but not those caused by viruses. It is essential to read the prescribed indications and other instructions on medicine’s use indicated in the package leaflet and summary of product characteristics. Package leaflets and summaries of all authorised medicinal products in Croatia are publically available in the Medicines database section of the HALMED webpages.

We invite all doctors and patients to prescribe and use antibiotics responsibly and consciously: antibiotics are intended to treat bacterial infections, and not those caused by viruses. Antibiotics should be used only at doctor’s advice in equal time period and the dose should be taken entirely.

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