Public Awareness Campaign and Knowledge of Iranian (Bio)Medical Students Regarding Hepatitis B and C Infections

Abstract

Background: New treatment and vaccination strategies provide the opportunity for eliminating viral hepatitis. Lack of adequate knowledge seems to be a barrier against hepatitis elimination due to the emergence of newly infected cases. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of Iranian (bio)medical students regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and to determine the effect of hepatitis public awareness campaign (PAC), held by the students, on their knowledge level. Methods: This prospective study was conducted during PAC by Iran Hepatitis Network for World Hepatitis Day in 2016. The PAC had 2 major parts: 1) training of the registered (bio)medical students in a workshop; and 2) sending the trained students to Tehran metro stations to promote public hepatitis awareness on July 26 -28, 2016. Hepatitis knowledge of the students was evaluated by a validated questionnaire before the workshop, after the workshop, and after the end of PAC. Results: A total of 91 undergraduate students participated in the workshop, PAC, and the survey. The mean total knowledge scores

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“…Previous studies from Iran mainly focused on the knowledge and awareness of students about HBV, HCV, and HIV/ AIDS. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] . However, in this study, we evaluated the beliefs and attitudes of college students concerning all these preventable diseases together and we had this opportunity to compare the level of awareness among three fields of study.…”

“…23,26,27 In addition, our result was similar to Mansour-Ghanaei's, Ghahramani's, and Karimi-Sari's investigations among Iranian students. 17,18,21,23 . The results, we presented here clearly and the results of previous studies, revealed a significant lack of widespread education for HCV compared with HIV and HBV in Iranian society.…”

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian health sciences students regarding hepatitis B and C virus infections: A national survey

“…17 An intervention is needed to increase awareness regarding HBV and HCV infections, especially in high-risk groups. 14,18 We need to evaluate the current status before starting educational interventions.…”

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“…To better control the spread of this pandemic, or address issues pertaining to its spread and effect on people, multidisciplinary health care team members and students are expected to collaborate fully. This in turn contributes to the recovery and minimization of the pandemic severe consequences (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Health science students can play a valuable role in health promotion due the nature of the work they do now, as well as their more critical role as future health care providers.…”