TITLE:
Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Viral Hepatitis B and C Screening by General Practitioners in Brazzaville
AUTHORS:
Rody Stéphane Ngami, Sonia Opomba, Philestine Clausina Mikolele Ahoui Apendi, Arnaud Mongo-Onkouo, Jile Florient Mimiesse, Ngala Akoa Itoua-Ngaporo, Marlyse Ngalessami, Céline Sandra Adoua, Deby Gassaye, Blaise Irénée Atipo Ibara, Jean-Rosaire Ibara
KEYWORDS:
Viral Hepatitis B and C, Screening, General Practitioners, Brazzaville
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Gastroenterology,
Vol.10 No.12,
December
2,
2020
ABSTRACT: The involvement of general practitioners in the early detection of viral
hepatitis B and C must be paramount. The objectives of this work were to assess
GPs’ knowledge, attitude and practice with regard to screening for viral hepatitis B
and C. We carried out a cross-sectional analytical study among GPs recruited by
simple random sampling from the list of GPs in the city of Brazzaville. The
judgement criteria were knowledge and practice of screening for viral hepatitis
B and C, assessed according to a Likert scale divided into 3 categories: very
good, good and bad. One hundred and twenty-one general practitioners were
included, including 48 women and 73 men, with a sex ratio of 1.52; the average
age was 33 years; 52.89% of them worked in the private sector with an average
period of activity of 4 years. The majority of the doctors had a good knowledge
(69.42%) and a bad practice (56.20%) of screening for viral hepatitis B and C.
The duration of activity was the factor linked to knowledge of viral hepatitis
B and C (p = 0.006) while age was the
factor linked to the practice of screening for viral hepatitis B and C (p = 0.0366). In conclusion, in Brazzaville, general
practitioners’ knowledge of screening for viral hepatitis B and C is good in general, but the
practices are poor and require targeted in-service training.