HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS' KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS OF HIV PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) prevention among health care workers (HCWs) remains a key issue. Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus endangers public health and kills a large number of individuals, including medical staff. There is now a genuine danger of HIV transmission among HCWs during work exposure. This study aims to assess health care worker perception on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and service delivery among health care workers in South-East Nigeria. Descriptive cross sectional study design using multistage sampling techniques was used to select four hundred respondents. Data was analyzed using the SPSS software version 25.0. Mean scores were generated for the major outcome variables of knowledge, attitude and practice of immunization schedule. P value was assumed significant at values less than 0.05. The findings of this study shows that 218 (54.5%) were male and 182 (45.5%) were female, 312 (78.0%) have good knowledge , 109 (27.3%) had history of occupational exposure to HIV, 234 (58.5%) had high, 85 (21.3%) had moderate and 81 (20.3%) had low level of exposure to occupational HIV, socio demographic variable based on age, religion, tribe, marital status and tear of practice shows a significant association with perceived level of exposure to occupational HIV at (ꭓ2=45.511, p=0.000), (ꭓ2=67.189, p=0.000), (ꭓ2=692.874, p=0.000), (ꭓ2=35.331, p=0.000) and (ꭓ2=34.899, p=0.000) respectively as p<0.05 and non-significant association with gender of the respondents at p<0.05. The findings from this study shows that there is a high level of PreExposure Prophylaxis among health care workers in the study area, larger proportion perceived level of exposure to occupational HIV and at significant risk of acquiring occupational infections, even though majority were satisfied with service delivery. Health authorities in the study area need to improve the training of HCWs and provision of infection prevention equipment