Hand hygiene among oral health care providers in public institutions in Edo state even in the wake of Lassa fever.

BACKGROUND

Hand hygiene is recognized as the leading measure to prevent the cross-transmission of microorganisms and to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the knowledge and practice of hygiene among dental health workers even in the wake of Lassa fever.

METHOD: This questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in four public hospitals in Edo state. All data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire after obtaining ethical clearance.

RESULTS

108 of the 120 questionnaires distributed were filled and returned giving a response rate of 90.0%. Overall assessment of respondents' knowledge of hand hygiene revealed that 41.7% of the respondents possessed a good knowledge of hand hygiene, 37.0% had excellent knowledge, 17.6% had moderate and 3.7% had a weak knowledge of hand hygiene. Overall assessment of the practice of hand hygiene showed that the hand hygiene practice of 58.3% of respondents was fair while 37.0% practiced hand hygiene poorly. Only a few (5.6%) respondents had good hand hygiene practices.

CONCLUSION

The outbreak of Lassa fever does not seem to positively influence the practice of hand hygiene among the respondents. While knowledge of hand hygiene is satisfactory in this study, the practice still leaves much to be desired.