Perception, knowledge and use of antibiotic among communities in Chad

Chad is a country where self-medication and use of antibiotic without medical prescriptions are still observed. These practices lead to the apparent emergence of resistance to antibiotics for bacteria. The aim of this study was to assess the abusive and inappropriate use of antibiotics among the communities. The surveys were conducted in N'Djamena and Moundou, two major cities of Chad. All the respondents were aged more than 14. They had different social status and some were married. All were interviewed through questionnaire sheets. The collected data were cleaned and validated using the Statistical Software Package for the Social analysis. Data analysis was performed using the Pearson chi-square test. Of the 500, 472 returned sheets contained complete information. Therefore, the response rate was 94.4%. 296 (62.7%) were male and 176 (37.3%) women. The majority of the participants were between 25-34 years (36.9%). Their levels of training vary: primary (40.8%), secondary (33.1%) and higher (26.1). Their professional and marital status also varied. The marital status revealed 37.7% single and 46.8% married. The rate of antibiotic use was significant among the young people, from 25 to 34 years old (61.49%; p = 0.002). As far as the antibiotics acquisition is concerned, 33.2% of the people interviewed affirmed that they had received probabilistic medical prescription of drugs of which 2.5% is on customers’ demand. It was also established that 6.8% of medicines were purchased without medical prescriptions and 4.2%, on the advice of unqualified street vendors. With regards to the sources of drugs, 20.6% of the antibiotics were purchased from pharmacies and 11.0% from street vendors. Bad practices in the use of antibiotics could be related to knowledge gaps on the subject. Young people, in particular, those with low incomes and lower level of education were the most concerned. Educational, informational, communicative initiatives and application of regulations on sales of antibiotics are needed to control the misuse of antibiotic in Chad. Key words: Antibiotic resistance, socio-demographic characteristics, bacteries, virus, education, Chad.