Following the European Union (EU) Council Recommendation on prudent use of

antimicrobial agents in human medicine in 2001, and the success of national

campaigns, i.e. Belgium and France, the European Centre for Disease Prevention

and Control (ECDC) decided to establish the European Antibiotic Awareness Day

(EAAD) on 18 November as platform to support national campaigns across Europe.

This article provides an overview of EAAD tools, materials, and activities

developed during the first five years. It shows that EAAD has been successful due

to good cooperation between ECDC and national institutions, strong political and

stakeholder support and evidence-based development of campaign materials. EAAD

has provided a platform for pre-existing national campaigns and encouraged

similar campaigns to develop where neither political support had been secured,

nor financial support had been available. As a result, participating countries

have continuously expressed strong support for ECDC to continue its work on EAAD.

This has been endorsed by a steadily increasing number of countries participating

and the growing interest of varied professional and stakeholder organisations. We

conclude that EAAD should continue to act as catalyst for discussion and as

mechanism to raise awareness of the public and prescribers about prudent use of

antibiotics.