Knowledge of Occupational Hazards and Post Exposure Prohylaxis by Hospital Cleaners to HIV and Other Blood Borne Pathogens: Findings from Ten Hospitals in Abakaliki, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Medical wastes unlike other waste products constitute a serious health hazard to its handlers, patients and the community at large. Objective: This study assessed the level of awareness of hospital cleaners on occupational hazards, safety measures and post exposure prophylaxis to HIV in 10 hospitals in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted on ninety hospital cleaners working in ten public and privately owned hospitals in Abakaliki. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection and data analysis was done with SPSS version 19. Results: This showed that out of 90 respondents sampled, 68 questionnaires were available for analysis. This gave a response rate of 75.6%. It was observed that knowledge of occupational hazards was fairly high (82.4%) among the participants; this was due to training on hospital waste management and experience from the Job. Safety measures to mitigate occupational hazard was inconsistently and incorrectly used by the respondents. A fairly significant proportion of participants were aware of their HIV (72.1%), Hepatitis B (47.1%) and C viruses (48.5%) status. Only half (50%) were immunized for Hepatitis B virus and as well as had knowledge of post- exposure prophylaxis for HIV. Conclusion: Occupational exposure of health care providers to hazardous hospital waste is a significant public health problem. Therefore, healthcare managers and policy makers should institute astute measures to improve the knowledge of occupational hazards, as well as provide personal protective device to hospital waste handlers. Post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV should be domiciled in healthcare centre for the benefit of exposed individuals.