Occupational injury history and universal precautions awareness: a survey in Kabul hospital staff

Our aim was to measure the percentage of healthcare staff reporting sharps injuries in the preceding 12 months, and to explore what they knew about universal precautions. In five randomly selected government hospitals in Kabul a total of 950 staff participated in the study. Data were analyzed with Epi Info 3.Seventy three percent of staff (72.6%, 491/676) reported sharps injury in the preceding 12 months, with remarkably similar levels between hospitals and staff cadres in the 676 (71.1%) people responding. Most at risk were gynaecologist/obstetricians (96.1%) followed by surgeons (91.1%), nurses (80.2%), dentists (75.4%), midwives (62.0%), technicians (50.0%), and internist/paediatricians (47.5%). Of the injuries reported, the commonest were from hollow-bore needles (46.3%, n = 361/780), usually during recapping. Almost a quarter (27.9%) of respondents had not been vaccinated against hepatitis B. Basic knowledge about universal precautions were found insufficient across all hospitals and cadres.Occupational health policies for universal precautions need to be implemented in Afghani hospitals. Staff vaccination against hepatitis B is recommended."Universal precautions" aim to prevent transmission of human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV), and other blood borne pathogens. The objective is to assume patients are infected with blood-borne pathogens, and ensuring health staff minimise the risk of exposure to infected body fluids [1]. These measures are important, as it is estimated that the attributable fractions for percutaneous occupational exposure are 37% for hepatitis B, 39% for hepatitis C and 4.4% for HIV [2]. Hepatitis B is particularly infectious, with the risk of transmission of HBV from needlestick or other sharps injuries to health care workers ranging from 6% to 30% [3].In Afghanistan, we do not know the population prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus. It could be high: HCV is common in injecting drug users (36.6%) [4];