Factors Influencing Company Bus Drivers' Awareness and Attitudes towards Basic Life Support in Kigali.

Background: Basic life support (BLS) refers to a package of care that first responders provide to anyone experiencing a life-threatening condition to increase the victim's chance of survival. Globally, 92% of people who had out-of-hospital cardiac arrest died due to limited provision of BLS, therefore, there is a need to assess the awareness and attitude of the general public towards BLS, such as taxi drivers.

Methods: A quantitative, analytical study that involved 327 drivers recruited from three different bus stations in Kigali city was undertaken and binary logistic regression was used for statistical analysis.

Results: The current study found that 19.5% of company bus drivers were aware of basic life support, and 29% had a positive attitude. However, none of the participants had a basic emergency kit in their buses. Having basic life support training, (AOR=7.853:95%CI: 1.326-10.413) and previous involvement in accidents (AOR=4.321:95% CI 1.163-4.628) were significantly associated with basic life support awareness.

Conclusion: Kigali city in collaboration with Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority need to devise ways bus drivers can be trained in basic life support. In addition, there is a need for every bus permitted to work in transportation sectors to get a basic life support kit.