Hepatitis B Knowledge Among Healthy Volunteers in Duhok City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a public health problem in Iraq. Healthcare providers have set a plan to eradicate the virus by 2030. Objectives: The current study aimed at evaluating the public knowledge in Duhok city, Iraq, about HBV. Methods: A total of 168 subjects were recruited and the data were collected via a self-reporting questionnaire. The subjects were asked about the modes of transmission, symptomatology of HBV, and vaccination. Results: Totally, 168 persons were recruited in the current study and they were asked 11 questions. In total, 58.6% of the questions were answered correctly; 75% of the participants knew that HBV is transmitted more easily than HIV; 35.2% of the females thought that HIV is transmitted more easily than HBV, which was significantly higher than that of males (20.2%) (P = 0.03). The same trend was found among villagers who thought that HIV is more easily transmitted than HBV (29.5% versus 22.4% for urban residents; P = 0.02). It was also found that only 33.9% of the subjects knew that HBV can be transmitted by toothbrush. In addition, the majority of illiterate participants (75.9%) thought that HBV can be transmitted by food (P = 0.05). Conclusions: The current study results showed the average levels of knowledge about HBV among participants. More studies are needed to evaluate the level of knowledge after implementing educational programs.