Doctors are being given new advice today on the best use of antibiotics in advance of a European drive.
Sunday has been declared European Antibiotic Awareness Day.
As most GP surgeries will be closed on Sunday, British agencies were marking the event today.
The Royal College of GPs launched a new toolkit with guidance on the management of antibiotics, together with clinical and patient resources.
Dr Michael Moore, of the college, said: "The toolkit is aimed at working GPs to give them the means to assess their current practice and to focus on ways to reduce antibiotic prescribing in situations where the evidence shows they are of little or no benefit.
"I don’t see antimicrobial stewardship as a one-off activity but as something to be worked on over time. We hope that practices will pick up on antibiotic awareness and integrate this into their service development programme over the coming years perhaps focussing on a different clinical condition each year."
At the same time the Health Protection Agency launched a new awareness leaflet.
Dr Cliodna McNulty, of the HPA, said: "A lot of people with coughs, colds and flu still visit the doctor expecting to be given antibiotics for their treatment and it can be difficult for the doctor to refuse.
"This expectation puts a lot of pressure on the doctor to prescribe antibiotics which is often not necessary and cause increased antimicrobial resistance in the long run."
She added: "Although there has been a fall in the prescribing of certain groups of antibiotics like cephalosporins and quinolones, overall antibiotic use has increased and antibiotic resistance continues to rise.
"So we should only prescribe antibiotics when they are needed so helping to reduce the risk of resistance emerging and extending the life span of the antibiotics we have."
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