Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Antibiotic Use and Resistance: A Cross-Sectional Study among University Students in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Antibiotic resistance in clinical and community settings has attained a crisis level with serious implications for individual and public health. More concerning is the use of antibiotics in community or extra-clinical settings, with increasing reports of abuse and indiscriminate use of antibiotics, particularly among adolescents and university students. This carries an attendant risk of toxicity and emergence of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this present study was to assess the level of knowledge about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance (AR), attitude towards antibiotics and antibiotic use practice among students of the Federal University Oye Ekiti, using a self-administered questionnaire.The questionnaire was designed, as established in the relevant literature and tested for reliability using the alpha Cronbach test. It was reproduced and subsequently administered to 400 student volunteers selected at random. The age of the sampled respondents ranged from 17 to 29 years, with an average age of 21.3 years. The results obtained showed that the respondents demonstrated fair knowledge about antibiotics and those antibiotics may have side effects. However, the respondents demonstrated poor knowledge and awareness about antibiotic resistance, with 68/400 students claimed that antibiotic resistance is not a global problem and 115/400 students claiming that they are not aware that antibiotic resistance is a problem. The Chi square test revealed no significant difference between the different parameters measured and the different faculties of students within the university. Many of the respondents demonstrated a poor practice of self - medication, which is a major factor in the abuse of antibiotics. In conclusion, this study calls for proper vigilance in the use of antibiotics and the enhancement of proper antibiotic stewardship programmes in order to forestall this negative development and promote public health.