CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 128Antibiotic Use and ResistancePharmacy and Medical PracticesPharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 56 of the 56 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Knowledge, practices and attitudes on antibiotics use in Cameroon: Self-medication and prescription survey among children, adolescents and adults in private pharmacies

Open access
Elong Ekambi, Grace-Ange, Okalla Ebongue, Cécile, Penda, Ida Calixte, Nnanga Nga, Emmanuel, Mpondo Mpondo, Emmanuel, Eboumbou Moukoko, Carole Else·2019·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0212875PMC PMC6394986
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Benefits of antibiotics are threatened by the self-medication, people's lack of knowledge and inappropriate use of antibiotics, especially in developing countries. This study was designed to determine knowledge; attitudes and practices toward antibiotics use in an urban community, and evaluate the factors that are associated with antibiotic use. Between January and March 2015, a cross sectional and prospective study was conducted in all pharmacies within the Douala IV health district, Cameroon. Anonymous interviews including both open and closed ended questions were conducted in participants selected by convenience sampling Descriptive and logistic regression analysis were performed using StataSE11 software (version 11 SE) and R software (version 3.1.1) in data analysis. Overall 402 (33.7%) of 1,192 customers purchased antibiotics and of these, 47% bought antibiotics without a prescription. 60.7% of purchased antibiotics was for adult 'patients and around 60% of parents carried out self-medication on their children. The vast majority reported that all microbes can be treated with antibiotics (88.3%). The belief that antibiotics are appropriate for bacterial infections was more common among those with a higher level education (OR = 4.03, 95%CI:1.89-8.57, p<0.0001) and among public/private servants (OR = 2.47, 95%CI:1.21-5.08, p = 0.013). Physicians provide less explanations about antibiotics are and their potential side effects than the pharmacy auxiliaries (OR = 0.205, 95%CI = 0.09-0.46, p<0.0001), but more than pharmacists (OR = 3.692, 95%CI:1.44-9.25, p = 0.005). Indications on antibiotics use were 7 times more given to customers with a prescription compared to those without a prescription (OR = 7.37, 95% CI = 2.13-25.43, p = 0.002). Adult male (OR = 2.32, 95%CI:1.24-4.34, p = 0.009) and higher education (OR = 2.05, 95%CI:1.08-3.89, p = 0.027) were significantly associated with self-medication. Misuse, little "practical knowledge" and high self-medication confirm the unsatisfactory prescription and dispensing practices of the antibiotics in our country. These results highlight the important of the development and implementation appropriate guidelines for the responsible use of antibiotics for health care providers and health education targeting community members themselves.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0212875

Cites

56 of 56 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Figures

Fig 1 Flow chart of participants through the study according to the type of medication.
Fig 1 Flow chart of participants through the study according to the type of medication.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig 2 Antibiotics prescribers to outpatient in the Douala IV health district in Douala.
Fig 2 Antibiotics prescribers to outpatient in the Douala IV health district in Douala.CC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Desaubiliaux AS. Consumption, Knowledge and Perception of the drug by the child: inquire in educational circle. Pharm. Thesis, The University of Paul Sabatier, Toulouse. 2006;73p. Available from the country number 2006TOU32085. French file.
  2. B Escourrou, 2010, Child self-medication by parents: a real risk?, Revue du praticien, 60, 34
  3. Ouedraogo M. Contribution to the improvement of antibiotic therapy in the district of Bamako: Analysis of the consumption of ATB in Carrefour Lafiabougou and Hirondelles pharmacies. Pharm Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Donto-Stomatology, The University of Bamako. 1997;54p. Available from: http://www.keneya.net/fmpos/theses/1997/pdf/97P25.pdf. French file
  4. Wassa B. Dispensation of antibiotics in three pharmacies of Bamako. Pharm Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Donto-Stomatology, The University of Bamako. 2008; 62p. Available from: http://www.keneya.net/fmpos/theses/2008/pharma/pdf/08P38.pdf. French file.
  5. Masson E., Calop J., Limat S., Fernandez C. Clinical and therapeutic Pharmacy. 3th ed Paris Masson. 2008; 1307 p. Book. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9782294062346. French file.
  6. C Njall, 2013, Bacterial ecology of nosocomial infection in the reanimation department of the Douala Laquintinie hospital, Cameroon, PAMJ, 14, 140
  7. Yaba B. Study on the perception of antibiotic therapy by patients: cases of 3 hospitals in Douala. Pharma Thesis, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Douala. 2014. 54p. French file.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 128

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Elong Ekambi, G.-A., Okalla Ebongue, C., Penda, I. C., Nnanga Nga, E., Mpondo Mpondo, E., & Eboumbou Moukoko, C. E.
ORCID
Eboumbou Moukoko, Carole Else
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2019-02-28
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
e0212875
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0212875
PMC
PMC6394986
OpenAlex
W2918548227
Cited by
128
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 2
FWCI
11.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Antibiotic Use and Resistance
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Pharmacy and Medical Practices
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
Keywords
antibiotic self-medication, antibiotic prescribing, antibiotic knowledge, antibiotic attitudes, antibiotic use practices, private pharmacies, antibiotic misuse, educational attainment, pharmacist counseling, Douala, Cameroon, urban communities, developing countries, inappropriate antibiotic use
MeSH terms
Drug Misuse, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Cameroon, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Middle Aged, Pharmacies, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Self Medication, Prescription Drug Misuse

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review