Background: Worldwide, 19.2% of healthcare workers (HCWs) get occupationally exposed to Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) annually, resulting in approximately 1,000 new HIV infections but the use of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is largely undocumented. We aimed at assessing the prevalence of ever taking PEP, completion rates and the self-reported reasons for non-completion among HCWs.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we randomly selected and enrolled 206 HCWs from records of HCWs at a large Regional Referral Hospital between March and October 2020, which included medical staff, cleaners and medical students. Participants’ socio-demographic, medical, PEP initiation and completion information was obtained using a self-administered questionnaire. Comparison of “ever taking PEP” and completing PEP across gender, health cadre, age, religion and marital status categories of the HCWs was done using Pearson’s chi square test in STATA 15.0 software.
Results: Majority of HCWs were aged above 35years (41.8%), female (54.4%) and qualified medical workers (64.6). Overall, 37.4% (95% CI: 30.9 - 44.2) reported to have ever taken PEP, of whom 72.7% (95% CI: 61.5 - 81.7) completed their mandatory 28days of treatment. Reasons for PEP non-completion were: drug side effects (81%), the source patient testing HIV negative (14.3%) and not finding reason to complete the treatment (4.7%).
Conclusion: The prevalence of ever taking PEP is high, indicating a high rate of HCW occupational exposure to HIV. About a third of HCWs, majorly females, married and above 35-year-old do not complete PEP treatment, with the major reason being drug-related side effects. To avoid potential HIV sero-conversion, counselling on adverse events and sensitization of HCWs on good occupational safety and infection control measures, and dangers of PEP non-completion should be emphasized.