Prevalence of fear of Perceived Risks of acquiring HIV Infections among Health Care Providers towards People Living with HIV and AIDS in River Nile State

Abstract

Background: Medical care providers must encounter with People Living with HIV Aids and be prone to acquiring HIV infection as a result of the nature of their work. As such, their knowledge and awareness of their likelihood of contracting the disease may interfere with their care for patient suffering from HIV/AIDS. Aim of the study: The study aimed to find out the frequency of fear of perceived risk of infection among health care providers from those that are infected with HIV or their relatives at Nile River State of Sudan. Methods: The study design is cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational. A questionnaire was administered to medical care providers in in two hospitals in Nile State, Sudan. Questions that covers demographic characteristics, familiarity with HIV, fear, and perceived risk of Medical Care Providers were asked. Results: Three hundred and ninety MCPs took part in the study, 136 were doctors, 219 were nurses, and 35 were midwives. Knowledge of the respondents is poor (1.8%), satisfactory (68.2%) and good (30%). The overall perceived risk in the majority of Medical Care Providers 66.7% was unclear, 27.9% had low perceived risk, while only 5.4% had high-perceived risk. Respondents’ knowledge and level of perceived risk are significant statistically. The better the respondents’ knowledge, the lower the perceived risk manifested. Appropriate recommendations were made. Conclusion: Medical Care Providers have overall unclear perceived risk, with some amount of high perceived risk related to providing care or casual contact with PLWHA.