Author(s)

Serge Ngekeng^1*, Alain Chichom-Mefire², Nicholas Tendongfor¹, Esembeson Malika¹, Margaret Ebob-Bessem¹, Simeon Pierre Choukem³

¹Department of Public Health and Hygiene, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
²Department of Public Health and Hygiene, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
³Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.

Background: Despite WHO estimates of two million healthcare workers (HCWs) who are exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV) yearly, uptake of the hepatitis B vaccine among HCWs in Cameroon is low. Objective: Our study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a behaviour change communication (BCC) intervention in improving vaccination uptake among HCWs in Fako Division. Methods: We carried out a clustered randomized controlled trial involving HCWs in 12 study hospitals and 12 control hospitals. Baseline vaccination uptake was established for both groups and a 6month BCC intervention applied to the study group. After 6months, uptake was again measured for both groups. We performed the adjusted chi-square tests to compare between groups and within groups from baseline to end of study. Results: Greater than 1 dose vaccination uptake increased from 25.66% to 34.72%(p value, 0.02) in the control group and from 35.27% to 75.89% (p value, <0.001) in the study group, meanwhile ≥ 3 dose uptake increased from 8.68% to 27.92% (p value, <0.001) in the control group and from 17.86% to 65.63% (p value, <0.001) in the study group. The change in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control (p value, <0.001). Posters and brochures reached 93.8% of participants while 35.9% said they got vaccinated because of the work station visits. Conclusion: BCC is effective in increasing hepatitis B vaccination uptake among HCWs. Public health officials should utilize wide-reaching as well as more interactive channels of BCC to improve vaccination among HCWs.

Hepatitis B, Vaccination, Behaviour Change Communication, Health Care Workers

Ngekeng, S., Chichom-Mefire, A., Tendongfor, N., Malika, E., Ebob-Bessem, M. and Choukem, S.P. (2024) Impact of Behaviour Change Communication on Uptake of Hepatitis B Vaccination among Health Workers in Fako Division, Cameroon. Open Access Library Journal, 11, 1-15. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1111084.