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Knowledge and awareness on Hepatitis-B among paramedic and non-paramedic students in district Kanchanpur Nepal

Background: Hepatitis is a systemic infection with major pathology in the liver mainly due to hepatitis B virus (HBV). It can cause acute and chronic infections while some patients never get rid of the virus and develop cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer many years later. Objective: To assess the knowledge regarding HBV infection, mode of transmission and prevention among paramedics and non-paramedics of an intermediate level Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the district of Kanchanpur, Nepal during the period March- April 2015. A non-probability and purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 184 trainees in paramedical (pharmacy, general medicine and nursing) and non-paramedical (computer engineering and civil engineering) fields. Data were collected through interviews using a structured and semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Among the 184 respondents, there were 92 each from the paramedical and non-paramedical fields. Mean age of the paramedics was 18.6 (SD=1.54) years and 19.5 (SD=1.17) years among the non-paramedics. The majority of paramedics (64.1%) consisted of females, in contrast to the majority being males among non-paramedics (79.3%). More than 80% of paramedics (98.9%) and non-paramedics (84.3%) knew hepatitis is a communicable disease and is transmitted by unsafe sexual contact, unsafe blood transfusion, tattooing and drug abuses. However, the level of knowledge in paramedics was higher than in non-paramedics. Conclusion: There is potential need to raise awareness and knowledge of HBV among the non-paramedics through vertical programs as well as through social media in the country.