Antibiotic Use and Resistance Development: Exploring Livestock Owners' Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in south-western Nigeria

A n t i b i o t i c  i n j u d i c i o u s  u s e  a n d resistance development remains a growing public health concern globally putting the livestock industry and human health at stake, given the resulting increasing emergence of resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. Despite this, the role of livestock owners who manage the majority of the national herds in most developing countries especially Nigeria remains largely un-investigated.  We conducted a qualitative study among 216 randomly selected livestock owners in south-western Nigeria to explore their knowledge, attitudes and p r a c t i c e s  o n  a n t i b i o t i c  u s e  a n d resistance development using semi- structured questionnaires. Data were analysed using SPSS version 15.0.  The results revealed indiscriminate use of antibiotics by the livestock owners on ready-for-sale cattle. Only 49.54% h a d  g o o d  k n o w l e d g e  w h i c h  w a s significantly associated with tertiary education ( p = 0.01) and 81.02% were unaware of antibiotic withdrawal period. Also, approximately two-thirds (63.89%) had poor attitudes with only 11.11%  concerned  with  the  need  to observe withdrawal periods. In addition, 91.67% claimed that their veterinarians had never advised them to observe withdrawal period and 95.37% had never observed it. Poor professional attitudes of the so-called veterinarians as well as l a c k  o f  l a w  e n f o r c e m e n t  a g a i n s t uncontrolled sales of veterinary drugs were attributed to the livestock ownersu0027 poor knowledge, attitudes and practices.  The role of livestock owners should be considered when designing programmes t o w a r d s  p r e v e n t i n g  a n t i b i o t i c i n j u d i c i o u s  u s e  a n d  r e s i s t a n c e d e v e l o p m e n t .  F u r t h e r m o r e ,  e f f o r t s geared towards regulating sales of veterinary drugs as well as enforcement of  veterinary  professional  ethics  are n e e d e d  t o  s a f e g u a r d  a n t i b i o t i c e f f e c t i v e n e s s  i n  b o t h  a n i m a l s  a n d humans, now and in the near future. K E Y WOR D S :   L i v e s t o c k  o w n e r s ; a n t i b i o t i c  r e s i s t a n c e ;  k n o w l e d g e ; attitudes; practices