Knowledge and Practice Regarding HBV, HCV, and HIV Infections Among Hairdressers in Aden, Yemen

Background: HBV, HCV and HIV infections can cause major health problems commonly caused by global mortality and morbidity. The current study is the first regarding the knowledge and practices among hairdressers about HBV, HCV, and HIV infections in Aden, Yemen. Objective: It aimed to determine knowledge and the practices among men hairdressers regarding HBV, HCV, and HIV infections and to determine the association between scores of knowledge and the practices and demographic, occupational, and other related characteristics of hairdressers in Aden, Yemen. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 109 hairdressers, all of them were males. The predesigned questionnaire was used to collect the data from all participants. Results: The percentages of knowledge among hairdressers regarding infections and transmission of HBV, HCV, and HIV were from 85.3% to 91.7%. About 33.9% and 15.6% of participants never heard about vaccination against HBV and the risk of these viruses on the hairdressers and their clients, respectively. Fifty-three (48.6%), of the hairdressers, were reused razors or blades between different clients and 42 (38.5%.) of them were not receive a vaccine against HBV. There were significant associations between knowledge and education level and the number of customers per day (p=0.004 and p=0.001), respectively. There was also a significant association between practice and level of education, size of salon as well and a borderline significant association was showed between the marital status of hairdressers and practice (p=0.015, 0.001 and 0.06), respectively. Conclusion: The majority of hairdressers were aware of the risk of HBV, HCV, and HIV infection and transmission routes, the risk of shaving tools as well as vaccination against HBV. A high percentage of hairdressers have reused shaving tools and this needs direct monitoring by regulatory authorities to prevent the spreading of infectious diseases.