Knowledge, attitude and occupational risks to hepatitis B infection among health workers in Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Northern Uganda: a cross-sectional study design.

INTRODUCTION: hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the commonest causes of acute and chronic liver diseases worldwide. HBV can be transmitted by exposure to infected blood and human secretions through sharp injuries and splashes. Health workers are among the most high-risk groups because they regularly interact with patients. A seroprevalence survey conducted in Uganda in 2014 found a higher prevalence of HBV in Gulu Municipality compared to the rest of Uganda. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted among health workers in Gulu Regional Hospital. A stratified random sampling was used. Knowledge ratings and Likert scale were used to score knowledge, attitudes and risks of HBV infections in a qualitative assessment. Ethical approval was obtained and SPSS was used for data analysis. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: one hundred and twenty-six (126) respondents participated; 65 (51.6%) were male, 80 (63.5%) were aged 20-29 years, 74 (58.7%) were not married, 86 (68.3%) had a work experience of 0-9 years, 64 (50.8%) had good knowledge, 90(71.4%) had positive attitude, 114 (90.5%) had high to very high pre-exposure risks, and 75 (59.5%) had moderate to high exposure and post-exposure risks. There was no significant difference in knowledge (X 2= 13.895; p = 0.178) and work experience (X 2= 21.196; p = 0.097) among the health workers. CONCLUSION: there is a high pre-exposure, exposure and post-exposure risks of HBV infection among health workers in Gulu Hospital. There is need to augment awareness on HBV infection and design strategies to strengthen and implement infection control measures including HBV vaccination among health workers.

Awareness, knowledge, attitude and practice towards measures for prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in the Ugandans: A nationwide online cross-sectional Survey

BackgroundThe world is facing the Coronavirus pandemic which is highly infectious. A number of measures have been put in place to prevent its spread among the population. However, for these preventive measures to be effective, the population requires an appropriate and sufficient knowledge. Thus, a survey was conducted with the aim of assessing the awareness, knowledge, attitude and practices towards measures for prevention of the spread of Covid-19 amongst Ugandans. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted during the lockdown in Uganda. An online questionnaire and a snowballing approach was used for participant recruitment of 18 years above literate Ugandans. Data collection was done from 6th to 15th April 2020 during which 1763 people participated. We analyzed all data using STATA 14.2, applying appropriate statistical tests. ResultsOut of 1763 participants, 97.6% were aware of the current pandemic. 83.9% of participants had a good knowledge score (21.8/27), 72.4% had a good attitude and 85.3% were practicing measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease. The ordered logistic regression showed that being a Health worker was significantly associated with a high knowledge (aOR:6 (3.32-10.93); a good attitude (aOR:2.5(1.68-3.8)]) and good practice (aOR:2.9 (1.95-4.2). On contrary, being a driver, business entrepreneur and a security personnel were found to have less rate in awareness, knowledge, attitude and practice. ConclusionsUgandans had a good overall awareness, knowledge, attitude and practice. However, there is still a gap of knowledge, attitude and practice among drivers, business entrepreneur and security personnel. There is a need to mobilize the population in the country to have the same degree of awareness and knowledge which will have an impact on attitude and practice to prevent spread of COVID-19.