JEKA initiative – public and education campaign aimed at promoting proper use of antimicrobial drugs, has been promoted in Rijeka and in the Primorje – Gorski Kotar County during the winter months since 2009. Since 2013, this initiative has been promoted at national level. The main organizer of the initiative is the Faculty of Medicine, Rijeka.

Proper antibiotic treatment implies their proper use only then when they are actually necessary. Not only the doctors who prescribe them are responsible for this, but also the patients who take them. One of the basic and most effective strategies for slowing down the development of resistance is permanent education about proper use of antimicrobial drugs, for doctors and pharmacists and also for ill persons who use antibiotics.

The purpose of this initiative is to send the following messages to citizens:

  • antibiotics are medications used to treat bacterial infections, not viral infections;
  • common cold, the flu, a cough, a head cold, most of the inflammations of the upper respiratory tract are of a viral origin and cannot be cured with antibiotics;
  • antibiotics are not medications used to reduce fever;
  • antibiotics should be taken only when prescribed by a doctor;
  • the prescribed antibiotic must not be shared with other people;
  • with each use of antibiotics, regardless of whether this use is justified or not, its effectiveness is reduced for the development of resistance to batteries;
  • although doctors are aware of possible consequences of overusing antibiotics, they hardly change their habits and bow to pressure from patients.

Further information on the proper use of antimicrobial medications.

 

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