Abstract:
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and other
infections via exposure to infectious patients’ blood and body fluids. The main objective of this study was to
estimate the risk of HIV transmission and examine the practices for preventing occupational exposures among
HCWs at Tumbi and Dodoma Hospitals in Tanzania.
Methods: This study was carried out in two hospitals, namely, Tumbi in Coast Region and Dodoma in Dodoma
Region. In each facility, hospital records of occupational exposure to HIV infection and its management were
reviewed. In addition, practices to prevent occupational exposure to HIV infection among HCWs were observed.
Results: The estimated risk of HIV transmission due to needle stick injuries was calculated to be 7 cases per
1,000,000 HCWs-years. Over half of the observed hospital departments did not have guidelines for prevention and
management of occupational exposure to HIV infections and lacked well displayed health and safety instructions.
Approximately, one-fifth of the hospital departments visited failed to adhere to the instructions pertaining to
correlation between waste materials and the corresponding colour coded bag/container/safety box. Seventy four
percent of the hospital departments observed did not display instructions for handling infectious materials.
Inappropriate use of gloves, lack of health and safety instructions, and lack of use of eye protective glasses were
more frequently observed at Dodoma Hospital than at Tumbi Hospital.
Conclusions: The poor quality of the hospital records at the two hospitals hampered our effort to characterise the
risk of HIV infection acquisition by HCWs. Greater data completeness in hospital records is needed to allow the
determination of the actual risk of HIV transmission for HCWs. To further reduce the risk of HIV infection due to
occupational exposure, hospitals should be equipped with sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and
HCWs should be reminded of the importance of adhering to universal precautions.
