KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS TO WARDS ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG RESISTANCE AMONG REGULAR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCE NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA, 2017.

Abstract

Background Antimicrobial drug resistance is a vast mounting universal crisis. Recognizing the public health crisis due to antimicrobial resistance, several nations, international agencies, and many other organizations worldwide have taken action to counteract it through strategies applied in the relevant sectors. However, there is a scarcity of accurate and reliable data on Antimicrobial resistance in general for many common and serious infectious conditions that are important for public health in the region. The necessity of understanding knowledge and attitude as the basis of intervention is clear. While there has been some studies and intervention targeting on physicians and pharmacists, or other healthcare professionals who are involved in antibiotic dispensing, as the investigator best knowledge little had been studied among medi cine and health science students. Objective: to assess knowledge, attitude and associated factors of antimicrobial drug resistance among students at University of Gondar College of medicine and health science Northwest Ethiopia, 2017. Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1 to April 20, 2017 among students at University of Gondar College of medicine and health science. Five hundred two students were selected by using stratified sampling technique. Closed ended structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The collected data were checked, coded and entered to EPI-INFO version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics was applied and also bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used Result: A total of 490 students were participated with a response rate of 97.6%.In general, 75.1% of students had good knowledge, 61.8% of students had favorable attitude. Female students were found to have good knowledge than male students [(AOR=1.90(1.23, 2.12)], on the other hand students who are in medicine department have knowledgeable than students in other department [(AOR=4.33, 95%CI=1.24, 15.126)], similarly students who had good knowledge found to have favorable attitude as compared with students who have poor knowledge [(AOR=3.22, 95%CI=1.06, 9.77)] Conclusion and recommendation: Overall the current study showed that student’s knowledge and attitude were found to be good however for other health departments, it would be advisable to present specific courses and training about antibiotics usage and proper prescription of drugs in their curriculum. Keywords: Antimicrobial Drug Resistance, Attitude, knowledge Students, University of Gondar