Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Health-Care Workers Towards Hepatitis B Virus Prevention in Kabul, Afghanistan

Abstract

Rohullah Roien,1 Sayed Hamid Mousavi,1 Akihiko Ozaki,2,3 Sayed Abulqasem Baqeri,1 Sayed Mohammad Reza Hosseini,1 Shoaib Ahmad,4 Sunil Shrestha5,6 1Medical Research Centre, Kateb University, Kabul, Afghanistan; 2Department of Breast Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan; 3Medical Governance Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan; 4Department of Pediatrics, District Head Quarters Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 5Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Service Research, Nepal Health Research and Innovation Foundation, Lalitpur, Province Bagmati, Nepal; 6Nobel College Faculty of Health Sciences, Pokhara University, Kathmandu, Province Bagmati, NepalCorrespondence: Rohullah Roien; Sayed Hamid Mousavi Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health issue around the world. Health care workers (HCWs) are at high risk of HBV infection because they have direct contact with HBV infected blood and body fluids in their work.Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of HCWs towards hepatitis B infection in Kabul, Afghanistan.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 502 HCWs, between November 2018 and January 2019 by a simple random sampling method. The data was collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire. Using this questionnaire, demographic characteristics and KAP of HCWs was assessed. In addition, descriptive and inferential analyses was conducted on the collected data using SPSS 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).Results: The overall KAP scores of HCWs were found to be 86.58%, 34.73%, and 61.22%, respectively. Most of the participants correctly recognized the HBV infection. Among the participants, only 77.45% had undergone screening for HBV, and 56.37% had received HBV vaccine (p < 0.0001). Moreover, only 6.77% had completed the three doses of vaccination for HBV. Among the HCWs, the group with higher education level had better knowledge than the group with lower education level. However, the attitude of most of the participants towards HBV prevention was found to be inadequate (53.98%).Conclusion: This study shows that HCWs in Kabul, Afghanistan are at high risk of HBV infection due to low vaccination coverage and inadequate infection control. Therefore, we strongly encourage providing an accessible and compulsory vaccination program for all HCWs to improve their attitude and awareness towards HBV infection and to achieve effective infection control.Keywords: hepatitis, hepatitis B virus, Kabul, health care worker

Keywords

• hepatitis
• hepatitis b virus
• kabul
• health care worker