New York, June 19 -- As resistance to antibiotics grows, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the latest stage of its campaign to fight this deadly health risk - likened by the agency to an "invisible pandemic"- with the launch of a new online tool for health professionals on Tuesday.

The AWaRe portal divides antibiotics into three groups - Access, Watch and Reserve - and explains which antibiotics should be used to treat the most common and serious infections (Access), which ones should be available at all times in the healthcare system (Watch), and those that must be used sparingly or preserved and used only as a last resort (Reserve).

The campaign is designed to raise the proportion of global consumption of antibiotics in...