Knowledge, Attitude and Practices about Quality and Management of Anthelmintic Drugs in Adea Berga District, Central Ethiopia

The efficacy of anthelmintic is affected by incorrect dosage, exclusive use of drugs of the same mode of action, substandard quality drugs, and inappropriate handling. Questionnaire survey was administered to 384 farmers to assess the awareness level of farmers about practices in relation to quality and management of anthelmintic drug in Adea Berga district, Central Ethiopia. A total of 384 farmers were contacted, 69% of the respondents were males while 31% were females. The majority of interviewees were uneducated (63%) and 77.6% of the respondent had awareness about the drug store. Of the interviewees, majority of them had no enough knowledge about safe handling and its management. 59.5% of the respondent bought the drugs from veterinary clinic and 78.3% kept the drugs at room temperature that compromise the quality of the drug. Majority of the respondents (87.5%) obtained the information about drug administration from professionals and 86.5% of the respondents were consult nonprofessionals to administer the drug to animals. Majority of the farmers (93.8%) practice deworming. 72.4% of the study participants were calculate the dose of the drug by guess based on age and the size of the animal and 28.8% were given over and under dose of the drug respectively. 15.8% and 4.9% were explained about the cause of over dose as severe diarrhea and death of the treated animal but most (77.9%) of the farmers responded as there were doubtful with under dose. 70.6% and 75.8% of the participants revealed that the challenges faced when they bought the drugs from public and private shops as the distance and the cost as major issue respectively. Therefore, continuous awareness creation works to the community, training on safe veterinary drug handling and drug administration and sustainable improvement of animal health service delivery through a well-regulated private service.