The campaign, driven by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), It will be broadcast until November 24 with a television ad that will be broadcast on national and regional networks, with a total of 1,085 passes. The dissemination of this campaign is one of the activities scheduled within the framework of the European Day for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, which is held every November 18, and the World Awareness Week on the Use of Antibiotics (November 18-24).
The objective of the spot is to raise awareness about the risk to the health of all of the excessive and improper use of antibiotics, one of the main causes of the development of resistant bacteria. The main message focuses on the damage that can be caused by using a wrong object to perform a specific task, an idea represented through the incorrect use of a hairbrush.
The script underlines the self-consumption of antibiotics in cases of viral infections such as influenza or cold as one of the wrong behaviors that can cause resistance development and therefore compromise the therapeutic efficacy of these medications in future treatments. Thus, it is noted that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections, do not relieve pain or fever and should always be used under medical or veterinary prescription.
The materials of this campaign, which has had a total budget of 590,000 euros, will also be promoted on social networks and will be available for download in the "Campaigns" section of the page Web of the PRAN.
Antibiotics and resistance in Spain
Promoted by the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and coordinated by the AEMPS with the participation of all autonomous communities and eight ministries (Health, Agriculture, Economy, Interior, Defense, Education, Science and Ecological Transition), PRAN has been working since 2014 with the aim of curbing the development and dissemination of bacterial resistance. With that goal, this National Plan focuses its measures on reducing antibiotic consumption in Spain.
Excessive use of these medications is one of the fundamental causes of the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria, one of the biggest global challenges of modern medicine. Every year 33,000 people die throughout Europe as a result of hospital infections caused by resistant bacteria. According to the figures of the Registry of the Basic Minimum Data Set (CMBD), in Spain about 3,000 deaths per year are counted for this same reason.
The results of the last Eurobarometer of the European Commission on the citizens' knowledge about antibiotics, they reflect that the percentage of Spaniards who think -equivocally- that antibiotics cure the cold has dropped from 45% (2016) to 36% (2018), one of the largest drops recorded in the European Union. Spaniards who confirm having taken antibiotics in the last twelve months have also dropped from 47 to 42%.
In any case, Spain continues to exceed the average recorded for these indicators in Europe, where 32% of respondents said they had used antibiotics in the last year and 28% believe that antibiotics cure the cold. Likewise, the percentage of Spaniards who recognize self-medication with antibiotics is maintained at 5%.
Spain is also among the European countries that consume the most antibiotics, although in recent years there has been a decrease of 7.2% in the total consumption of antibiotics in human health (2015-2018) and a decrease of 52.3% in total sales of veterinary antibiotics (2014-2018).
Communication and dissemination activities
Also in the framework of the European Day for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics and the World Awareness Week on the Use of Antibiotics, PRAN has organized the I Popular University Race "Run without resistance!" next to the biosanitary faculties of the universities of Alcalá de Henares, Almería, Bilbao, Murcia and Seville.
The race will be held in these five cities on November 16 and 17 in order to raise awareness among future health professionals about the importance of the problem of resistance and encourage them to be an active part of PRAN as a key group in improving the use of the antibiotics.
A new edition of the European Day for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics will be held on November 18 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. As every year, during this meeting several experts in different areas will address the problem today. All the information to participate in these activities can be found in the Web.