Hepatitis B vaccination status among health workers in Enugu, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Health workers in Nigeria are particularly at increased risk of contracting hepatitis B virus in their work place because Nigeria is a holoendemic area. Hepatitis B vaccination virtually eliminates this risk. There are few studies on the perception and uptake of hepatitis B vaccination among health workers in Nigeria and none to our knowledge in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the Hepatitis B vaccination level among all categories of health workers in UNTH, Enugu, and the factors that influence its uptake.
METHOD: The study was cross-sectional in design. Subjects were health workers likely to be exposed to patients and or their body fluids. The tool was a self administered pre-tested questionnaire and analysis was done using SPSS version 11.5 software.
RESULTS: Fifty point four percent of the health workers felt that their jobs exposed them to an increased risk of contracting hepatitis B virus infection. There is a significant occupational difference in perception with only 5.5% of the ward attendants as against 67.9% of other workers feeling that their jobs exposed them to increased risk (P = 0.00). Twenty two point four percent had received Hepatitis B vaccination, 3.7% had received 3 or more doses. Only years of occupational practice had a significant influence on vaccination uptake (P = 0.00). The most common reason for non-vaccination was lack of opportunity (43.08%). Among the 53.7% of the respondents who had had needle stick injury, none received post exposure prophylaxis.
CONCLUSION: There is a low level of hepatitis B vaccination and no post exposure prophylaxis among health workers in UNTH, Enugu. This is due to poor perception of the risk of contracting this infection and non-availability of the vaccines.