Dissertation (MSc Public Health)Antibiotics play a fundamental role in the treatment of infectious diseases, especially those caused by bacteria. However, inappropriate use of drugs leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria with subsequent antimicrobial resistance which has become a worldwide public health problem (Kajeguka & Moses, 2017). Misuse of antibiotics is currently one of the major public health issues attributed to several factors. Among the factors, self-medication is one of the key players, highly practiced and high prevalence being in the developing countries (Gajdács et al., 2020). This study aimed to explore the factors that contribute to poor dispensing of antibiotics by the community pharmacy dispensers, factors associated with antibiotics misuse and self-medication by the community members in Dodoma City, Tanzania. A community based cross-sectional study with both quantitative and qualitative approaches was done between November 2020 to May 2021, conducted in Dodoma Municipal, 382 community members and 44 community pharmacy dispensers participated. The semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interview were used. SPSS version 26 was used for the data analysis. The proportions, chi-square test of independence and binary logistics regression analysis were used for data analysis. Pharmacy business owner pressure, proximity and increase of pharmacy community outlets contribute to poor dispensing of antibiotics. Left from previous illness was 6.2 times more likely for the respondents to self-medicate with the antibiotics (OR = 6.239; 95% CI 1.159-5.463; p = 0.005). Those who had tertiary education were 5.6 times more likely to misuse antibiotics (OR = 5.574; 95% CI 1.594 – 19.485; p = 0.007) compared to those who had no education. There is poor dispensing of the antibiotics by the pharmacy community dispensers. Self-medication practices were so high with the prevalence of 56% and the misuse of antibiotics with the prevalence of 16.7%.