Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review

Background: While all healthcare workers are exposed to occupational hazards, workers in sub-Saharan Africa have higher rates of occupational exposure to infectious diseases than workers in developed countries. Identifying prevalence and context of exposure to blood and bloodborne pathogens may help...

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Autores principales:	Sarah Mossburg, Angela Agore, Manka Nkimbeng, Yvonne Commodore-Mensah
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ubiquity Press 2019
Materias:	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/204d9105ef1d4bc096280b83a02bd6e8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:204d9105ef1d4bc096280b83a02bd6e82021-12-02T05:17:42ZOccupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review2214-999610.5334/aogh.2434https://doaj.org/article/204d9105ef1d4bc096280b83a02bd6e82019-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/2434https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: While all healthcare workers are exposed to occupational hazards, workers in sub-Saharan Africa have higher rates of occupational exposure to infectious diseases than workers in developed countries. Identifying prevalence and context of exposure to blood and bloodborne pathogens may help guide policies for prevention. Objective: This systematic review examined occupational exposure rates to blood and bloodborne pathogen among healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: In November 2017, a comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies reporting exposure of health workers in African coutnries to blood and bodily fluids. Title, abstract and full text screening were used to narrow our search. Studies more than 10 years old, or published in non-English languages were excluded. Findings: Fifteen studies reported a variety of exposures. The lifetime prevalence of needlestick injury ranged from 22–95%, and one-year prevalence ranged from 39–91%. Studies included a range of descriptive statistics of knowledge, attitudes, practice and access factors related to exposures. Two studies reported 21–32% of respondents linked poor knowledge or training with prevention of needlestick injuries. Rates of recapping needles ranged from 12–57% in four studies. Attitudes were generally positive toward occupational safety procedures while access was poor. Conclusions: The high burden of blood and bloodborne pathogen exposures demonstrated here indicates a high risk for contracting bloodborne illnesses. Although the data are sparse, implementation of preventative policies based on current knowledge remains critical to minimize risk and reduce exposure. There remains a pressing need for high quality data on occupational hazards to identify the burden of exposures and inform preventive policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additional studies are needed to determine whether differential exposures exist between professions and the associations with knowledge, attitudes, practices, and access factors to create targeted strategies to diminish occupational hazards.Sarah MossburgAngela AgoreManka NkimbengYvonne Commodore-MensahUbiquity PressarticleInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 85, Iss 1 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Sarah Mossburg Angela Agore Manka Nkimbeng Yvonne Commodore-Mensah Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
description	Background: While all healthcare workers are exposed to occupational hazards, workers in sub-Saharan Africa have higher rates of occupational exposure to infectious diseases than workers in developed countries. Identifying prevalence and context of exposure to blood and bloodborne pathogens may help guide policies for prevention. Objective: This systematic review examined occupational exposure rates to blood and bloodborne pathogen among healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: In November 2017, a comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies reporting exposure of health workers in African coutnries to blood and bodily fluids. Title, abstract and full text screening were used to narrow our search. Studies more than 10 years old, or published in non-English languages were excluded. Findings: Fifteen studies reported a variety of exposures. The lifetime prevalence of needlestick injury ranged from 22–95%, and one-year prevalence ranged from 39–91%. Studies included a range of descriptive statistics of knowledge, attitudes, practice and access factors related to exposures. Two studies reported 21–32% of respondents linked poor knowledge or training with prevention of needlestick injuries. Rates of recapping needles ranged from 12–57% in four studies. Attitudes were generally positive toward occupational safety procedures while access was poor. Conclusions: The high burden of blood and bloodborne pathogen exposures demonstrated here indicates a high risk for contracting bloodborne illnesses. Although the data are sparse, implementation of preventative policies based on current knowledge remains critical to minimize risk and reduce exposure. There remains a pressing need for high quality data on occupational hazards to identify the burden of exposures and inform preventive policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additional studies are needed to determine whether differential exposures exist between professions and the associations with knowledge, attitudes, practices, and access factors to create targeted strategies to diminish occupational hazards.
format	article
author	Sarah Mossburg Angela Agore Manka Nkimbeng Yvonne Commodore-Mensah
author_facet	Sarah Mossburg Angela Agore Manka Nkimbeng Yvonne Commodore-Mensah
author_sort	Sarah Mossburg
title	Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
title_short	Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
title_full	Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr	Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed	Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review
title_sort	occupational hazards among healthcare workers in africa: a systematic review
publisher	Ubiquity Press
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/204d9105ef1d4bc096280b83a02bd6e8
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Occupational Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Systematic Review

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