Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards post exposure prophylaxis for HIV among health care workers in Gondar, North West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS infection in health care facility has become a major health problem. Especially in resource poor setting health care workers are managing huge number of HIV infected patients that made them to be more exposed to HIV infection. This situation makes the use of post exposure prophylaxis for HIV very important. Therefore the aim of the study was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of health care workers towards post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. METHODS: Cross-sectional study was conducted among 195 health care workers from February 15 to June 20, 2012. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire and entered and analyzed using SPSS-20 version. Results were summarized in percentages and presented in tables. RESULTS: Significant proportions of respondents, 72 (36.9%), were found to have inadequate knowledge about post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. However the majority of respondent 147 (75.4%) had good attitude toward the PEP and significant number of the respondents, 66 (33.8%), had been exposed to blood, body fluids, needles or sharp objects once or more times while giving care for patients. Among these exposed, 49 (74.2%) took PEP but the rest 17 (25.7%) didn't take PEP. From these exposed respondents that took PEP, 23 (46.9%) correctly started taking of PEP at exact initiation time, but the rest started after the recommended initiation time. Among those who took PEP, 39 (79 .6%) completed taking the drug, however 10 (20.4%) didn't complete the PEP regimen. CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, significant proportion of study subjects had less knowledge and practice even though the majority of respondents had favorable attitude towards PEP. Therefore, a formal training for all HCWs regarding PEP for HIV and also establishing a 24 hour accessible formal PEP centre with proper guideline is recommended.