Abstract
Introduction: Needlestick injuries (NSIs) remain a public health concern amongst health care workers (HCWs) including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) counsellor-testers recruited to identify HIV infected individual for care and treatment in Benue, Nigeria. Most studies on NSIs, have so far been facility-based, hence the need to assess the impact of NSI at the community level in Benue, Nigeria. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of NSIs, and examine the contributing factors associated with NSI among community HIV counsellor- testers in Benue State, Nigeria. Methods: An analytic cross sectional study of 400 randomly selected community counsellor testers was used. Participants responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS version 27. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were carried out to determine the association between NSIs and several independent variables. Results: The prevalence of NSIs among community counsellor-testers in Benue, Nigeria was 29%. Among the participants with NSIs, 72.4% was attributed to risky behaviours, improper sharps disposal and 27.6% was due to uncooperative clients. A number of factors were significantly associated with NSIs, including age group (AOR= 7.20, 95% CI 1.97- 26.33), hours per shift (AOR 4.05 95% CI 2.25-7.28), years of experience (OR 0.13, CI 95% CI 0.50-0.33), training (AOR= 6.24, 95% CI 3.05-12.78), lack of guidelines (AOR= 3.75 95% CI: 2.08-6.05), knowledge on NSI measures (AOR=1.77, 95% CI 0.99-3.16), NSI measures on HIV related infection (AOR= 3.01, 95% CI 1.57-5.76), NSI measures on Hepatitis C Virus related infection (AOR=6.52, 95% CI 2.30-18.49), NSI measures on Hepatitis B Virus related infection (AOR= 5.92, 95% CI 2.31-15.18), and the lack of PPE (AOR = 4.31, 95% CI 2.26-8.22). Conclusion: There was high prevalence of NSIs among the community counsellor testers. Based on the study findings, limited knowledge, lack of PPE, lack of guidelines, and training of HCWs, are the contributory risk factors for NSIs. The strengthening of preventive and universal measures including building the capacity and knowledge of HCWS will reduce the NSIs occurrence at the community level.