Hepatitis B Vaccination Status among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Hospital in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Even though health professionals (HPs) need special consideration for hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination, this is not widely implemented in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to determine the vaccination status of health professionals against hepatitis B virus infection, to identify barriers to vaccination and to identify factors associated with vaccination status. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 1 to 15, 2016. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire and analysed using SPSS version 21. A test of association was done using binary logistic regression and P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Out of 286 HPs included in the study 28.7% received full course vaccination against HBV. The most frequently mentioned reasons for not being vaccinated against HBV are unavailability of the vaccine (58.2%) and its cost (18.5%). Age, marital status, level of education, and type of profession have significant association with vaccination status. Conclusion HBV coverage among HPs in Gondar University Hospital (GUH) is inadequate. This is mostly due to unavailability of the vaccine and its cost. Vaccination status significantly varies based on level of education, type of profession, age, and marital status. We recommend making vaccines available and accessible.

Attitude and Vaccination Status of Healthcare Workers against Hepatitis B Infection in a Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia

“…Another barrier mentioned was vaccine unavailability, which was reported by 36% of participants. Likewise, this report is in line with the reasons mentioned for vaccine refusal in different articles [19, 28, 39]. This is an input for stakeholders to establish an effective program that focuses on vaccine availability at affordable cost to meet the demand of healthcare workers.…”

“…Attitude was measured on the cumulative score of thirteen questions designed to assess healthcare workers' attitude towards hepatitis B infection and its vaccination. Each attitude question contains ordinal categorical response rated in 5-point Likert scale [i.e., 1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree] and these questions were adapted from previous literatures [19, 22, 23]. Overall, the scores for each participant were summed and study participants who have responded to ≥60% of attitude questions positively were regarded as having favorable attitude.…”

Hepatitis B vaccination coverage among health-care workers in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Atiba et al [23] 2014 594 clinical students of Obafemi Awolowo University 39.2 ND Moderate Ayalew and Horsa [42] 2017…”

Limited Awareness of Hepatitis B Adult Vaccination among Patients in a South Indian Teaching Hospital

“…Their study also concluded that about one-fourth (25.9%) of the study participants started the vaccination and waiting for the next dose and being busy is the common reason (32.8%) for not receiving full course of vaccination which shows deviating result from our study [16].in our study we found around 11% of study population who are incompletely vaccinated(n=9) told that they are being busy as the reason for receiving full course of vaccination and around half of study population(n=5,55%) who are incompletely vaccinated(n=9) told that they have started the course of vaccination and waiting for next dose.…”