Original Research Article
Year: 2017 | Month: March | Volume: 7 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 295-300
Awareness and Status of Hepatitis B Viral Vaccination among Workers and Students of Health Care Profession of a Tertiary and Secondary Hospitals in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria
Bello Hali1, Bello Arkilla Magaji2, Abdulmumini Yakubu3
1Lecturer, Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences,
College of Health Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria,
2 Lecturer, Department of Community Health, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria,
3 Senior Lecturer, Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Medicine, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching
Hospital, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria,
Corresponding Author: Bello Hali
ABSTRACT
African countries are among the regions with high burden of Hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection. Hepatitis B virus can be found in various body fluids of an infected individual and is highly infectious. Effective HBV vaccine was available since 1982, but its awareness and coverage among health care professionals differ from one place to another. The aim of this study was to determine the awareness and status of Hepatitis B vaccination among workers and students of health care profession of tertiary and secondary health care hospitals in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria. These health care professionals include Doctors: 23, Nurses: 51, Nursing interns: 19, Midwifery: 65, Midwifery interns: 21, Medical Laboratory Scientists: 65, Medical Laboratory interns: 10, Science Laboratory Technicians: 61, and Science Laboratory Technician interns: 29. This research was a cross sectional, in which 344 workers and students of health care profession in selected Hospitals, in Sokoto metropolis were enrolled, from October, 2015 to March, 2016. Self administered questionnaire was adopted for the collection of data and Special Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 20) was used for the statistical analysis. Chi-square test was used for comparing variables and level of significance was set at P< 0.05. About 52.9 % were aware of HBV vaccine and 43.4 % of them had HBV vaccination, however only 46.8 % completed the vaccine schedules. The commonest source of information about the availability of HBV vaccine was from the working place of the respondents (57.7 %). The most frequent reason given by the respondents for not being vaccinated was due to careful handling of the patients (46.6 %).
Key words: HBV, HBV Vaccine, Health care Professionals.