Objectives

One of the key objectives of the European One Health action plan against AMR is to boost research, development and innovation by closing current knowledge gaps, providing novel solutions and tools to prevent and treat infectious diseases.

The use of effective and safe non-antibiotic treatments of infections is one of the strategies to support appropriate use of antibiotics. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practices prescribe non-antibiotic treatment strategies, aiming at strengthening humans’ and animals’ resilience to infections. This may therefore contribute to the reduction of antibiotic prescription and use.

At the conference a team of researchers from several European universities will present the available evidence supporting the CAM contribution. Topics that will be presented and discussed are, among others:

• Antibiotic prescription rates in conventional and CAM GP practices,
• Safety and effectiveness of CAM treatment strategies for respiratory tract infections and other infections,
• A first concept decision-making tool (DMT) for health professionals and patients in primary care, enabling the larger community of health professionals to make use of therapeutic options from the field of CAM, and
• An institutional model of structural development of DMTs for doctors and Patient Decision Aids for patients on CAM treatment of infections.

The research network project was supported by ZonMw, the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, under the frame of JPIAMR – Joint Programme Initiative for AntiMicrobial Resistance.