Knowledge, Misperceptions, Preparedness, and Barriers towards Lassa Fever Control among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Institution in Enugu, Nigeria

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2019-08, Vol.30 (3), p.1151-1164
• Main Authors: Ndu, Anne C, Kassy, Wilson C, Ochie, Casmir N, Arinze-Onyia, Sussan U, Okeke, Theodora A, Aguwa, Emmanuel N, Okwor, Tochi J, Chinawa, Awoere
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Availability; Barriers; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease control; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Disease prevention; Emergency management; Emergency preparedness; Epidemics; Fatalities; Female; Fever; Health care; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Knowledge; Laboratories; Lassa fever; Lassa Fever - epidemiology; Lassa Fever - prevention & control; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nigeria - epidemiology; Nosocomial infections; Outbreaks; Perception; Personnel, Hospital - psychology; Personnel, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Professional training; Ribavirin; Risk Assessment; Risk perception; Teaching hospitals; Teaching methods; Tertiary Care Centers; Training; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2019.0079

Lassa fever outbreaks are common in Nigeria. The study aimed to assess knowledge, misperception, preparedness and barriers towards Lassa fever among health care workers (HCWs) in a tertiary hospital in Enugu. A descriptive cross-sectional study among 400 HCWs of a Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. The study showed that 56.5% had fair knowledge while 42.0% and 1.5% had poor and good knowledge, respectively. Over 84% had good risk perception of acquiring Lassa fever while 15.8% had poor risk perception. Only 13% received training on emergency preparedness while 90.3% desired this training. Associations between occupation and knowledge were significant. Barriers to Lassa fever control were non-availability of infection control tools, lack of training on preparedness, absence of local laboratory, and non-availability of ribavirin. The study showed poor level of preparedness for Lassa fever and recommended routine training of HCWs on emergency preparedness.