The Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE) is a long-term project of the California Medical Association (CMA) Foundation, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Working with participating health plan partners, the CMA Foundation is able to identify high prescribers of antibiotics and provide targeted education. The 2015 AWARE Provider Toolkit was recently mailed to roughly 30,000 physician high prescribers.

Since its inception, AWARE’s goals have aimed to:

• Increase appropriate prescribing of antibiotics;
• Raise consumer awareness and understanding about the appropriate use of antibiotics; and
• Mobilize the community to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics.

The AWARE toolkit just went mobile!

The CMA Foundation recently launched the AWARE Compendia mobile app containing clinical guidelines for appropriate antibiotic use and providing easy access to the Adult and Pediatric Acute Respiratory Tract Infection Guideline Summaries. As these summaries are updated annually, the mobile app will be updated to provide the most up-to-date information.

“It’s important that this information be available and that people understand the risks associated with unnecessary use of antibiotics,” said Lisa Folberg, CEO of the CMA Foundation. “Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result of these infections. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection.”

The AWARE mobile app is available on Android and iPhone devices. Search “AWARE Toolkit” in the Google Play store and the iTunes store to download the app.