Noma-assessing Knowledge and Practice Competence among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Hospital, Northwestern Nigeria

Background: Noma, otherwise known as cancrum oris, is an opportunistic infectious necrotizing disease of bacterial origin that can lead to the destruction of orofacial and surrounding structures affecting mainly children between 2 and 6 years of age. If left untreated, it can run its life-threatening course resulting in mortality rate as high as 80%–90%. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice competence of healthcare workers on noma disease. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, from the month of January 2024 through April 2024. Included in the study were medical doctors, nurses, dental technicians, dental technologists, dental therapists, laboratory scientists, and pharmacists through a simple random sampling with a sample size of 200. Data were obtained using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 (IBM, Armonk Inc., New York, USA). Results: There were 108 (54.0%) male and 92 (46.0%) female respondents with a mean age ± standard deviation of 29.6 ± 4.7. Majority 142 (71.0%) were Hausas in ethnicity and were categorized into different cadres – medical doctors, nurses, dental technicians, dental technologists, dental therapists, laboratory scientists, and pharmacists. Out of the 200 respondents, 194 (97%) knew about the noma disease before, while only 6 (3%) were unaware of the disease. There was a statistically significant difference in the awareness about noma disease in relation to the cadre with P < 0.05. The knowledge of the respondents who claimed to have known about the disease was fair (64.5%), and the practice competence was good (73.7%). Conclusion: The awareness about noma among the studied population was excellent, the knowledge of the disease was fair, while the practice competence was good. The practice competence was not commensurate to the knowledge level.