Table 2.

Nursing mothers’ perception of the PPMV services and community access to medicines in rural areas of Ebonyi State Nigeria

To what extent do you agree with the following (strongly disagree, disagree, unsure, agree, strongly agree)	Mean rating (out of 5-point Likert scale)
(i) PPMVs are the first and often the only point of call for health care services in this rural area	3.2
(ii) PPMVs are easily accessible to the rural dwellers	3.3
(iii) The medicines and drugs sold by the PPMVs are cheaper and more affordable than in hospitals and pharmacies	3.6
(iv) Many PPMVs in this locality sell low quality, expired or sub-standard drug to the rural dwellers	3.3
(v) Many of the PPMVs in this locality do not have the prerequisite training to operate PPMV shops	3.3
(vi) Sale of medicines without prescription is rampant in this locality	3.8
(vii) PPMV shop owners and operators generally have low health knowledge about proper treatment for common illnesses, such as cough, malaria and diarrhoea and poor health treatment practices	3.5
Frequency of treatment with antibiotics (never, rarely, occasionally, frequently, very frequently)
How frequent do you treat your children’s coughs and colds with antibiotics in self-care (without consulting a health worker)	4.7
Effectiveness of treatment with antibiotics (don’t know, not effective, fairly effective, effective, very effective)
How would you describe the effectiveness of these other treatments as compared to antibiotics?	3.3
Perceived efficacy of antibiotics and awareness of risks of antibiotics (grossly inadequate, inadequate, fairly adequate, adequate, very adequate)
What is your perceived efficacy of antibiotics?	4.0
How adequate is your level of awareness of risks of antibiotics?	4.0