Antimicrobial resistance: moving from professional engagement to public action

Antimicrobial-resistant infections claim ≥700 000 lives each year globally. It is therefore important that both healthcare professionals and the public know the threat antimicrobial resistance poses and the individual actions they can take to combat antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotic awareness campaigns in England using posters or leaflets have had little or no impact on knowledge, behaviour or prescription rates. Centrally coordinated, multimodal campaigns in two European countries (ongoing for several years and including print and mass media, web site and guidelines, as well as academic detailing and individual feedback to prescribers) have led to reductions in antibiotic use. To change behaviour and reduce antibiotic use in England, a coordinated and comprehensive interdisciplinary and multifaceted (multimodal) approach using behavioural science and targeted at specific groups (both professional and public) is required. Such campaigns should have an integrated evaluation plan using a combination of formative, process and summative measures from the outset to completion of a campaign.