AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve)
AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) is a system developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to group antibiotics according to their spectrum of activity against microbes and their risk of developing antimicrobial resistance.
The Access group comprises narrower spectrum antibiotics with low resistance potential while Watch group antibiotics are broader spectrum with higher resistance potential. The Reserve group includes antibiotics that should be considered as last-resort options.
In past years (2017-2020), the proportion of prescriptions for Access antibiotics (low resistance potential) was between 66% and 70%.
Since the onset of COVID-19, 76% to 78% of prescriptions were for Access antibiotics, surpassing the WHO’s benchmark and the national average.
The number of prescriptions for WHO Reserve antibiotics, considered “last resort” treatment, decreased over time from 2017-2024.
In 2023-2024, Labrador-Grenfell and Western Zones had the smallest proportions of prescriptions for Watch antibiotics.