Knowledge,Attitude,and Practice Regarding HIV,HBV,and HCV Among Medical Students of Syrian Private University,Damascus,Syria

Abstract

Background

Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS are infections that constitute major health concerns impacting national health systems worldwide. This is the first study to determine Syrian medical students' attitudes, awareness and knowledge of HIV/HBV/HCV, regarding general knowledge about, clinical features, transmission, and prevention.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted at Syrian Private University on World AIDs Day (1/12/2019), Damascus, during the Syrian war crisis. Data were collected through self-administered surveys which targeted social demographic information, general knowledge, attitude, towards HBV, HCV, HIV. Data were divided and analysed according to the source of information, study year, marital status, and GPA using one-way analysis of variance to assess the level of knowledge.

Results

Of 317 respondents, the majority (59.8%) were males with age ranging from 18 to 30 years of age. . The majority of students 188(59.3%) showed an average level of knowledge, 73(23%) showed a good level of knowledge. This study revealed adequate knowledge. However there were misconceptions regarding transmission pathways. The majority 173(54.6%) had a positive attitude, and 144(45.4%) had a neutral attitude, while none had a negative attitude towards HIV/HBV/HCV infected individuals. Clinical year students (mean 73.0%, SD ± 10.0%) demonstrated higher levels of awareness compared to pre-clinical students (mean 39.7%, SD ± 13.0%).

Conclusions

This study revealed that medical students have adequate knowledge regarding HIV/HBV/HCV. Medical students play a pivotal role in raising awareness and disseminating knowledge among the community, thus more effort should be concentrated on developing educational programs to limit the risks of such infections.

Keywords

HIV HBV HCV awareness knowledge medical students war Syria

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Fact sheet—latest global and regional statistics on the status of the HIV epidemic. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 2019.

Jefferies

Rauff

Rashid

, et al. Update on global epidemiology of viral hepatitis and preventive strategies. World J Clin Cases 2018; 6: 589–599.

Sharma

Saini

Chwla

Hepatitis B virus: inactive carriers. Virol J 2005; 2: 82.

Hajarizadeh

Grebely

Dore

GJ.

Epidemiology and natural history of HCV infection. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2013; 10: 553–562.

World Health Organization. HIV and hepatitis co-infections. Geneva: World Health Organization, www.who.int/hiv/topics/hepatitis/hepatitisinfo/en/#.:∼:text=

de Martel

Maucort-Boulch

Plummer

, et al. World-wide relative contribution of hepatitis B and C viruses in hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology 2015; 62: 1190–1200.

Mumtaz

Riedner

Abu-Raddad

LJ.

The emerging face of the HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa. Curr Opin Hiv Aids 2014; 9: 183–191.

Acar

Kemahli

Altunay

, et al. HBV, HCV and HIV seroprevalence among blood donors in Istanbul, Turkey: how effective are the changes in the national blood transfusion policies? Braz J Infect Dis 2010; 14: 41–46.

Bagheri Amiri

Mostafavi

Mirzazadeh

HIV, HBV and HCV coinfection prevalence in Iran–a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One 2016; 11: e0151946.

10.

Badawi

Atif

Mustafa

YY.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of HIV, HBV and HCV infection prevalence in Sudan. Virol J 2018; 15: 148–109.

11.

Bashour

Muhjazi

Hepatitis B and C in the Syrian Arab Republic: a review. East Mediterr Health J 2016; 22: 267–273.

12.

Mtengezo

Lee

Ngoma

, et al. Knowledge and attitudes toward HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus infection among health-care workers in Malawi. Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs 2016; 3: 344–351.

13.

Garus-Pakowska

Górajski

Behaviors and attitudes of polish health care workers with respect to the hazards from blood-borne pathogens: a questionnaire-based study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2019; 16: 891.

14.

Dehghani

Sarvari

Knowledge and awareness regarding hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and human immunodeficiency viruses among college students: a report from Iran. Int Q Community Health Educ 2020; 41: 15–23.

15.

Khalid

Mohammed

AA.

Awareness and knowledge of hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS, among the University of Kassala students, Sudan. J Community Med Health Educ 2013; 3:1000201.

16.

The

Towards elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030. Lancet (London, England) 2016; 388: 308.

17.

Karimi-Sari

Tajik

Bayatpoor

, et al. Increasing the awareness of the general population: an important step in elimination programs of viral hepatitis. Am J Gastroenterol 2017; 112: 393–395.

18.

Rostamzadeh

Afkhamzadeh

Afrooz

, et al. Dentists’ knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding hepatitis B and C and HIV/AIDS in Sanandaj, Iran. BMC Oral Health 2018; 18: 12–20.

19.

Farhin

Jafar

Jaffry

Knowledge attitude and practice about HBV, HCV and HIV in general population of Barakahu, Islamabad, Pakistan. Rawal Med J 2018; 43: 627–630.

20.

Karimi-Sari

Bayatpoor

Aftabi Khotbesara

, et al. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian health sciences students regarding hepatitis B and C virus infections: a national survey. Am J Infect Control 2017; 45: e135–e141.

21.

Sannathimmappa

Nambiar

Arvindakshan

Hepatitis B: knowledge and awareness among preclinical year medical students. Avicenna J Med 2019; 9: 43–47.

22.

Ibrahim

Idris

Hepatitis B awareness among medical students and their vaccination status at Syrian private university. Hepat Res Treat 2014; 2014: 131920–131912.

23.

Alhamoudi

Alhalabi

Zein

, et al. Hepatitis C virus antibodies are absent among high risk group of health care workers in Damascus hospital. Arab J Gastroenterol 2018; 19: 80–83.

24.

Gerberding

JL.

Incidence and prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and cytomegalovirus among health care personnel at risk for blood exposure: final report from a longitudinal study. J Infect Dis 1994; 170: 1410–1417.

25.

Wicker

Jung

Allwinn

, et al. Prevalence and prevention of needlestick injuries among health care workers in a German university hospital. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 2008; 81: 347–354.

26.

Pfaender

von Hahn

Steinmann

, et al. Prevention strategies for blood-borne viruses-in the era of vaccines, direct acting antivirals and antiretroviral therapy. Rev Med Virol 2016; 26: 330–339.

27.

Ghouri

Aslam

Iqbal

, et al. Knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B among students of a public sector university. Isra Med J 2015; 7: 95–100.

28.

Wangu

Burstein

GR.

Adolescent sexuality: updates to the sexually transmitted infection guidelines. Pediatr Clin North Am 2017; 64: 389–411.

29.

Ministry of Health. National vaccination program, http://www.moh.gov.sy/Default.aspx?tabid=414&language=ar-YE

30.

Pathoumthong

Khampanisong

Quet

, et al. Vaccination status, knowledge and awareness towards hepatitis B among students of health professions in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Vaccine 2014; 32: 4993–4999.

31.

Noubiap

Nansseu

Kengne

, et al. Occupational exposure to blood, hepatitis B vaccine knowledge and uptake among medical students in Cameroon. BMC Med Educ 2013; 13: 1–5.

32.

Rathi

Kumar

Majhi

, et al. Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practices toward prevention of hepatitis B infection among medical students in a high-risk setting of a newly established medical institution. J Lab Physicians 2018; 10: 374–379.

33.

Abdela

Woldu

Haile

, et al. Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward prevention of hepatitis B virus infection among students of medicine and health sciences in northwest Ethiopia. BMC Res Notes 2016; 9: 410.

34.

Biradar

Kamble

Reddy

Study to assess awareness about HIV/AIDS among medical students. Int J Community Med Public Health 2016; 3: 62–64.

35.

Bajunirwe

Muzoora

Barriers to the implementation of programs for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: a cross-sectional survey in rural and urban Uganda. AIDS Res Ther 2005; 2: 10–11.

36.

Loke

AY.

HIV/AIDS knowledge and risk behaviour in Hong Kong Chinese pregnant women. J Adv Nurs 2003; 43: 238–245.

37.

Asefa

Beyene

Awareness and knowledge on timing of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among antenatal care attending women in Southern Ethiopia: a cross sectional study. Reprod Health 2013; 10: 1–8.

38.

Abiodun

Ijaiya

Aboyeji

PA.

Awareness and knowledge of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among pregnant women. J Natl Med Assoc 2007; 99: 758–763.

39.

Haroun

El Saleh

Wood

, et al. Assessing knowledge of, and attitudes to, HIV/AIDS among university students in the United Arab Emirates. PloS One 2016; 11: e0149920.

40.

Rotimi

Oluwafemi

Knowledge and attitudes of students in a Caribbean medical school towards HIV/AIDS. Afric J Biomed Res 2010; 11: 137–143.

41.

Rotheram-Borus

, et al. Mass media and HIV/AIDS in China. J Health Commun 2009; 14: 424–438.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.18 MB