OBJECTIVES: The abuse and misuse of antibiotics is a major public health concern in Nigeria and many other parts of the world. This is not just specific to hospital settings, but also seen in community retail pharmacies across the country. This explains the trend in antibiotic resistance in Nigeria. Hence, the aim of the study was to access the knowledge and attitude of the Nigerian public towards antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, and their predictors.

METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was carried out between July and September 2021 in 5 community retail pharmacy outlets in Lagos and Abuja. A nationally representative sample of male and female adults aged 18 years and above were used for the survey. The collated questionnaires were coded into and analysed using IBM Statistical Products and Services Solution Version-25. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted on the data, with p < 0.05 being considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Responses were generated from 964 clients who visited the selected community retail pharmacies within the study duration. About 64% and 50% of the respondents identified chlorpheniramine maleate and levonogestrel respectively as antibiotics. In addition, over half (58.3%) of the respondents posited that antibiotics should be taken immediately after unprotected sexual intercourse to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), while 55.3% said malaria is caused by bacteria. The level of education (p= 0.007) and the respondents’ area of residence (p=0.028) were good predictors of their knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance, while sex (p= 0.008) and level of education (p= 0.006) were predictors of attitude.

CONCLUSION: Majority of the respondents had good knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance, while there was no significant difference between respondents who had poor and good attitudes. We found the level of education, sex, and area of residence as predictors among the sociodemographic factors.