HALMED participates in implementing the 4th Public Educational Campaign on Rational Use of Antimicrobial Medicines – JEKA“
13.02.2012
HALMED is a sponsor and participant in implementing the 4th Public Educational Campaign on Rational Use of Antimicrobial Medicines - JEKA" with the aim to reduce the unnecessary or inappropriate use of antibiotics, because the over-prescribing of antimicrobial medicines stimulates the antimicrobial drug resistance and decreases the medicine effectiveness. The rational use of antibiotcs will preserve their activity and increase their clinical efficacy as well as decrease the potential for resistance development which will finally contribute to the decrease of morbidity and mortality due to infections by antibiotics resistent microorganisms.
Within the procedure for granting the marketing authorisation, the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices authorises also the indications for which the medicinal product is used. Antibiotics are indicated for bacterial infections, not for viral ones, though. It is essential to comply with the prescribed indications as well as with other instructions for using the medicine safely as described in the patient Information leaflet and summary of product characteristics. All patient information leaflets and summaries of product characteristics of medicinal products authorised in Croatia are publicly available in our medicines database (in Croatian) on HALMED's website.
We call upon all doctors and patients to prescribe and use antibiotics responsibly and consciously: Antibiotics are intended to treat bacterial infections, they are not effective against the viral ones. Antibiotics are not used to treat a flu or every single throat ache. Antibiotics are not used to reduce a fever. Antibiotics should be taken according to the doctor's prescription in equal time intervals and the dose should be taken entirely.
JEKA is a part of the scientific research project aproved by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia. The title of the project is "The effectiveness of procedures for promoting rational use of antimicrobial medicines" supported by the City of Rijeka and the Primorsko-Goranska County. The project is in compliance with the National programme on antimicrobial resistance control for the period from 2009 to 2014.
The JEKA campaign action plan encompasses various educational activities: lectures for doctors and pharmacists, adoption and dissemination of guidelines on most common infections in primary care and guidelines for hospital use of antimicrobial agents. In order to run an intensive educational campaign among the population on rational use of antimicrobial agents and treatment of milder respiratory infections, JEKA will make use of the public media strategic and place brochures and posters on strategic sites in schools, ordinations and pharmacies.
Here you can find more information on antibiotics and the JEKA campaign (in Croatian).
