A community-based survey of the general public’s knowledge, behaviour and awareness related to antimicrobial resistance.

The European AMR Patient Group, officially launched on 18th November 2020, includes 16 national patient associations from across Europe that aims to assess the general public’s awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and healthcare-associated infections.

Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of a microorganism (e.g., a bacterium, a virus, or a parasite) to resist the action of one or more antimicrobial agents or antibiotics, whereas healthcare-associated infection (also known as nosocomial infection) is an infection occurring in a patient during the process of care in a hospital or other healthcare facility which was not present or incubating at the time of admission.

The challenge of AMR is closely linked to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). In fact, HAIs are often caused by resistant bacteria, but the occurrence of an infection in the first place may also increase the risk of developing resistant strains.

The ultimate goal is to arm all European citizens with the necessary knowledge about antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections to ensure the appropriate use of antibiotics as well as the knowledge of other existing tools that can prevent, monitor, detect and diagnose infections.

This survey is designed to assess awareness and knowledge of the prudent use of antibiotics among the general public in five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

The findings of this questionnaire will be collected in five national reports which will be used to identify best practices and address current gaps in the implementation of national action plans on antimicrobial resistance.

Please note that all contributions to this survey will be treated ANONYMOUSLY and in full respect of GDPR, i.e., we will not associate the survey responses with any personally identifiable information.