Publication:

Public awareness regarding antimicrobial resistance in a hilly area of Garhwal Uttarakhand: a cross-sectional community-based study

Background Rising resistance for antimicrobials is a significant health concern globally. India is one of the countries with high prevalence of infectious diseases and misuse of antibiotics associated with it, contributing to emergence of drug-resistant organisms. Awareness among people is therefore important to prevent antimicrobial resistance.

Methods This cross sectional, community-based study assessed public awareness about antimicrobial resistance with 24 close ended questions scaled on three-point Likert scale as agree, disagree and not sure, divided in five parts including basic knowledge regarding antimicrobials, purchase of antimicrobials, duration of antimicrobial course, spread of antimicrobial resistance, and misuse of antimicrobials. Overall, 17 questions were positively scored as 0,1 and 2 for disagree, not sure and agree respectively, and reverse scoring was done for 7 questions. Data was analysed using SPSS v.27.

Results Sixty three percent study participants have good awareness about antimicrobial resistance and awareness level is significantly associated with age group, education level of the participants, occupation and not with gender.

Conclusions Findings reveal that even basic knowledge was poor among one fifth participants in study. Poor awareness about purchase, duration of course and spread of antimicrobial resistance, found in nearly half of study participants.