Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Viruses Associated Risk Factors and Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Refugees at Pugnido-I Camp in Gambela, Ethiopia.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Background: In the last two decades Ethiopia has witnessed increasing immigration flows fromSouth Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. However, these immigrants are not screened for hepatitis B andC which could be additional burden for the local population.
Objective: To determine Prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses, associated risk factors andknowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among refugees at Pugnido-I refugee camp in Gambela,Ethiopia.
Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted on 453 refugees at Pugnido-I refugee camp in Gambella region from January to May 2018.Socio-demographic, risk factors and KAP wasassessed by using structured questionnaires. Five ml blood sample was collected with serumseparator tube. HBsAg and anti-HCV rapid screening tests were performed and those positivesamples were confirmed using ELISA method. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSSstatistical software version 20. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval was calculated to assessthe strength of the association. P-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.
Results: The overall prevalence of HBV and HCV among refugees was 7.3 %( n=33/453) and 2.0%( n=9/453) respectively. Of those 6.8% (n=25/370) and 1.4% (n=5/370) of females were positivefor HBV and HCV respectively. And 9.6 % (n=8/83) and 4.8 % (n=4/83) of males were positivefor HBV and HCV respectively There was no significant association between HBV and proposedrisk factors (p>0.05), however, statistical significant association was observed between HCV andage group of 18-25years (AOR=0.045, CI 95%=0.005-0.378, P=0.004) and 26-35years(AOR=0.035, CI 95%0.004-0.301, P=0.002). From the total participants, 86.5%(n= 392/453) didnot know how the disease is transmitted, 8.2%(n= 37/453) believed that hepatitis can betransmitted through food, 86.8%(n= 393/453) had no information about the availability of HBV vaccine and 98.5%(n=446/453) were not vaccinated.
Conclusion: The prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C among refugees was intermediate whichmight be due to low knowledge and attitude towards the transmission and prevention of the disease.Therefore this indicates the need for creating awareness for refugees about the transmission andprevention mechanisms of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection. Large scale study is recommendedat national level.
Description
Keywords
Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, Pugnido Refugee camp, Gambella, Ethiopia.