Luxembourg is organising a series of information events as part of this year's European Antibiotic Awareness Week, taking place from 12-18 November 2018.
Today marked the start of European Antibiotic Awareness Week which aims to raise awareness among the public, professionals and policymakers about antibiotic resistance. In the European Union, every year on 18 November, a European Antibiotic Information Day is also held with this year's campaign falling under the theme "Antibiotics: Let's sound the alarm!".
In Luxembourg, the consumption of antibiotics among humans was estimated in 2017 to be at least 5.12 million DDD (defined daily doses). The bulk of this consumption, 92.25%, was related to consumption in ambulatory settings whilst 7.75% related to consumption in hospitals. Expressed by weight, ambulatory antibiotic consumption is estimated at 3.7 tonnes/year. By comparison, consumption in veterinary medicine was 2.1 tons in 2016.
As in previous years, women were found to use more antibiotics than men at all ages. The people receiving the most antibiotic prescriptions were children aged 0 to 9 years old and people over 80 years old. However, prescription for children have been in decline whilst those for the elderly has been increasing over the years.
General practitioners were the main prescribers, contributing to 60% of the total number of ambulatory antibiotic prescriptions. Indeed, ambulatory consumption remains high with Luxembourg ranking among the biggest consumers in Europe (7th in 2017). Despite the 5.5% drop from last year, the consumption level indicator in the Grand Duchy (24.1 DDD per 1,000 people per day) is well above the average of the participating EU/EEA countries (21.7 DDD per 1,000 people per day). Nevertheless, the evolution of consumption over the last 4 years has shown a slight downward trend.
Following European Antibiotic Awareness Week, the National Antibiotics Plan will hold its first antibiotic education and training conference entitled "Antibiotic resistance, we all have a role to play!" on Wednesday 5 December 2018, from 17:30-20:30, at the Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg-City. The event, open to all health professionals, aims to promote the correct prescription of antibiotics in Luxembourg. Registration is by mail at direction-sante@ms.etat.lu, no later than 28 November 2018
