Prescription of antibiotics as a source of emerging antibiotic resistance: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical staff in the Dassa-Glazoué and Savalou-Bantè's health zones (Benin, West Africa)

Research Article

International Journal of One Health, 6(1): 34-40

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2020.34-40

Victorien Dougnon¹, Yossounon Chabi², Hornel Koudokpon¹, Jerrold Agbankpe¹, Richard Sefounon¹, Didier Alle¹, Honoré Bankole¹, and Lamine Baba-Moussa³

1. Research Unit in Applied Microbiology and Pharmacology of natural substances, Research Laboratory in Applied Biology, Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin.
2. Department of Pharmacies, Drugs and Diagnosis, Ministry of Health, Benin.
3. Laboratory of Biology and Molecular Typing in Microbiology, Department of Biology and Cell Biology, University of Abomey, Benin.

Background and Aim: Antibiotics have been some great effective molecules against infections since their discovery. The excessive use and misuse of antibiotics have resulted in a selection of antibiotic-resistant strains. Among the reasons involved, the prescription of antibiotics can be important. The present study aimed to contribute to the reduction of antibiotic resistance due to the misuse of antibiotics.

Materials and Methods: A knowledge, attitude, and practice survey of health professionals from Savalou-Bante (230) and Dassa-Glazoué (100) health zones was performed about the prescription of antibiotics.

Results: About 53% of respondents in the health zone of Savalou-Bantè were assistant nursing and only 3% of them were specialized physicians. The other respondents were physicians (3%), midwives (10%), and nurses (31%). Forty-five percent of the respondents were nurses and only 5% of them were specialized physicians in Savalou-Bantè. However, all these health professionals prescribe antibiotics. The first-line antibiotics prescribed were penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, aminoglycosides, and quinolones. These health professionals usually have no knowledge of the mechanism of action of these antibiotics. The antibiotics prescribed mostly were for ear, nose, and throat and upper respiratory infections (80% in Dassa-Glazoué and 79% in Savalou-Bantè). The most commonly used dosage form was tablets (58%) in the health zone of Savalou-Bantè and the injectable form in the sanitary zone of Dassa-Glazouè.

Conclusion: It is important to implement a policy of rational use of antibiotics to reduce the excessive and misuse of antibiotics and prevent antibiotic resistance. Keywords: antibiotics, health professionals, knowledge, prescription.

Keywords: antibiotics, health professionals, knowledge, prescription.

How to cite this article: Dougnon V, Chabi Y, Koudokpon H, Agbankpe J, Sefounon R, Alle D, Bankole H, Baba-Moussa L (2020) Prescription of antibiotics as a source of emerging antibiotic resistance: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical staff in the Dassa-Glazoué and Savalou-Bantè's health zones (Benin, West Africa), Int. J. One Health, 6(1): 34-40.

Received: 29-11-2019 Accepted: 17-01-2020 Published online: 18-03-2020

Corresponding author: Victorien Dougnon E-mail: victorien.dougnon@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2020.34-40

Copyright: Dougnon, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.