Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of the health care workerson the rational use of antibiotics in the urban primary health care facilities of Lilongwe District in Malawi

Abstract

Introduction: The emergence and spread of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem worldwide and it presents a significant threat to public health globally. Substantial evidence has shown that health care workers play a role in the increase of antibiotic resistance. The main aim of this study was to explore the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of the healthcare workers on therational use of antibiotics in the Primary Health Care Facilities in Lilongwe District.Materials and method(s): This was a cross-sectional quantitative study that was carried out in three primary health care facilities in Lilongwe District. All the Clinicians and Nurses in the selected health facilities were requested to participate in the study using a purposive a simple random technique. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were utilized to collect relevant information. Data on the knowledge, attitude and practice of the primary health care workers was analyzed using SPSS and was presented in graphs and tables.Results: The study sample size was 73 participants however only 72 study participants responded to the questionnaire representing 98.6% response rate. Most of the participants (69/72) agreed that the rational use of antibiotics is giving the right antibiotic to theright patient in the right dose for the right duration;51,4% (37/72) of the participants responded that antibiotics cure viral infections. Most of the participants, 88.9% (64/72) agreed that it is important to know the resistance rate of the bacteria and 83.3% (60/72) agreed that Prescribing antibiotics is more influenced by the availability of antibiotics than the cause of infection.Conclusion: This study revealed that most of health care workers possess average knowledge about the rational use of antibiotics. However, their attitude and practice on the rational use of antibiotics were still poor.