OBJECTIVES: Antibiotics are mainstay for treating bacterial infections, however appropriate use of antibiotics is still a massive challenge. Public education is necessary for the pertinent use of antibiotics and to finite the spread of antibiotic resistance (AR). This study aims to assess the impact of an educational software named ‘ARIVU-IFK’ which is developed for public awareness and education on infections and antibiotic usage.

METHODS: A pre-post interventional study was conducted to assess the impact of a software named ‘ARIVU IFK” (ARIVU in local language means knowledge; IFK - Infection Free Kerala) which was developed for educating and improving the awareness of public on infections, antibiotic usage and AR. Our study comprised of 200 participants of any age and either gender, from general public among South India. A structured validated questionnaire was administered to the study participants to assess the baseline knowledge regarding infections and antibiotics. Based on the inferences from the pre-interventional survey, ARIVU- IFK was developed and circulated among them. To assess the impact of intervention, the questionnaire was re-administered to the same participants.

RESULTS: There was a marked improvement in the level of knowledge about infections (mean score from 2.8 to 4.2), antibiotics, and its resistance (mean score from 2.8 to 6.4) from pre- intervention to post- intervention and this difference was statistically significant (p value <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of a software tailored to bridge the end users’ knowledge gap significantly improved the attitude and awareness towards infections and antibiotics. Hence, our study concluded that an educational software targeting infections and antibiotics with a major aim of improving the public knowledge about antibiotic resistance can be an effective and feasible strategy and warrants more such antibiotic awareness campaigns.