Abstract:
In African countries, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) issue remains pertinent. Despite
this, little efforts have been made to assess the future veterinary prescribers on
their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to antimicrobial usage. This
multi-country survey attempts to explore the KAP of future veterinarians on stewardship
of antimicrobial and identify knowledge gaps. Eight veterinary schools participated from
Nigeria, Sudan and South Africa. Data regarding perceptions and knowledge were
analyzed using Chi-square χ² test, Spearman’s (Rho) Rank order correlation and factor
analysis using principal component factoring extraction method. Fifty-two percent of the
study participants were final year veterinary students, respectively, and majority (77.2%)
had no previous knowledge of biomedical sciences. Majority age were 22–27 years
(24.7 ± 2.8) 79% and multiple career fields post-graduation were preferred. Overall, poor
perceptions and knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship were observed with variations among countries and only 36.3% (n = 123) of the students were confident in their
ability to choose the ideal antimicrobial agents for a specific patient/group of animals.
The majority of the final year students were confident of their knowledge regarding
AMR (68%), making of Gram staining (69.2%) and in choosing the most ideal route for
administering a specific antimicrobial (74.7%). The final year students had significantly (p
< 0.05) higher confidence level for knowledge compared with the pre-final year students.
Tetracyclines, penicillins, and sulphonamides represent the three most abused veterinary
antimicrobials with similar ranking across countries. South African (69.7 ± 20.5) and
Sudanese (68.1 ± 15.4) had significantly (p < 0.0001) higher mean scores compared
to the Nigerian students (44.3 ± 6.8) in the student’s ability to correctly match some
specific antimicrobials against their classes but Nigerian students performed better in
ranking antimicrobials. This survey revealed poor to average knowledge of antimicrobial
stewardship among veterinary students with significant knowledge gaps across the
countries. It is recommended that the relevant regulatory and standardization authorities
should make concerted efforts and interventions to regularly review curricula to ensure
the delivery of targeted formative and normative training, and improved lectures on
antimicrobial usage and stewardship in order to improve the awareness and behaviors
of future prescribers. The identified knowledge gaps of veterinary medical students on
antimicrobial stewardship must be bridge to safeguard the future.
