The Intervention Study On Antibiotic Knowledge,Attitude And Practice Of Farmers In One County In Yunnan Province

The irrational use of antibiotics in clinical medicine and animal husbandry has brought great threat to human health and the environment security.Improper use is more serious in the field of animal husbandry.Antibiotic abuse may induce bacteria to develop drug resistance gene,and increase the residues of antibiotic drugs in animals,which has negative influence on animal growth and.post threats to human health.A baseline survey conducted in one county in Yunnan province revealed that farmers have little antibiotic knowledge and their awareness of antimicrobial resistance is extremely low.This study aims at improving the antibiotic knowledge-attitude-practice of farmers via health education interventions conducted in the county so as to promote the rational use of antibiotics in animal husbandry.Objectives:to undertake health education interventions in the county to improve farmers' knowledge,attitude and practice of antibiotics so as to promote rational use of antibiotics in animal husbandry,and to evaluate the effects of health education interventions.Methods:using questionnaire survey,a baseline survey of 404 rural farmers in 8 villages of 4 townships in one county in Yunnan Province where animal husbandry is one of the major income sources for local farmers was conducted in 2014-2015.The baseline survey revealed that local farmers had poor knowledge,attitude and practices of antibiotics.On the basis of the baseline survey,this study carried out health education interventions on antibiotics targeting local farmers.Health education intervention measures mainly include the designing and distribution of antibiotic information,education and communication(IEC)materials such as New Year calendar,posters,and pamphlet,conduct street performance,and hold village lecture and training sessions.Second questionnaire survey was conducted in the same villages after the interventions.Farmers' knowledge,attitude and practice before and after the interventions were compared and the double difference method is adopted to evaluate the effects of the intervention measures.Results:of the 404 farmers investigated in the baseline survey,253 received the health education intervention while 135 formers received no intervention.After the health education intervention,the average score of antibiotic-related knowledge of the 253 farmers increased from 3.95 ± 2.60(before the intervention)to 5.34 ± 2.44(after the intervention).The knowing rates of antibiotic knowledge before the intervention were 5.4%to 48.0%,and after the intervention,those rates increased to 20.2%to 69.6%,which were significantly improved.However,the knowing rates of the 135 farmers who did not received the interventions were 7.4%to 35.6%.The differences in the antibiotic knowledge level between the baseline survey and after intervention survey were statistically significant(Z =-6.649,P<0.01).The score of antibiotic-related attitudes increased from pre-intervention 4.08 ± 1.92 to post-intervention 4.85 ± 1.83.The farmers in the intervention group have more reasonable attitudes towards antibiotics and they have new and more comprehensive understanding of antibiotics.The difference between attitude scores of pre-intervention and post-intervention was statistically significant(Z =-4.023,P<0.05),and the attitude score level of post-intervention was higher than that ofbaseline survey.After the intervention,the score of antibiotic-related practices increased from 2.65 ±1.34 to 3.46 ± 1.39.The correct answer for the question,"Whether the veterinary antibiotics is prescribed and administrated by a vet," increased from 23.5%in the pre-intervention survey to 52.6%in the post-intervention survey.The difference in antibiotic-related practices between pre-intervention survey and post-intervention survey was statistically significant(Z=-7.182,P<0.01).however,there are still more than 80%of the surveyed farmers do not use antibiotics properly,mainly manifested as stopping use antibiotics when the sick animals' symptoms improved and do not follow the full course of antibiotic administration.The analysis result of the difference in difference method reveals that the health education interventions increased the antibiotic knowledge of farmers including the antibiotic concept,antibiotic withdrawal period and need vet's prescription for using antibiotics.Health education intervention also changes the attitude of farmers:more farmers think that consumption of meat contained antibiotic residues is harmful for human being and the residues can enter human body.Moreover,more farmers reported that they will wait for the antibiotic withdrawal period,will invite vets to prescribe and treat animals and will not use human antibiotic to treat sick animals.Conclusion:In this study,we carried out health education-based interventions in one county in Yunnan Province to improve farmers' antibiotic knowledge,attitude and practice in animal husbandry and we conducted questionnaire survey to investigate the changes in farmers' antibiotic knowledge,attitude and practice before and after the intervention,and we reached the following conclusions:Community-based health education intervention can improve farmers' antibiotic knowledge level and promote the formation of appropriate attitude and more rational using behavior.As long as the health education is easy to understand and relevant to farmers' situation,they are willing to accept the antibiotic knowledge related to animal husbandry.Government,society and individuals should work together to curb the abuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry so as we can put up the most strong protection for the safety of animal products.