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INTRODUCTION:The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Southeast Asia is high. Awareness and early detection are essential for timely prevention and treatment. METHODOLOGY:We examined the awareness of, knowledge about, practices and views on treatment for HBV infection in Southeast Asia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from December 2016 to February 2017 among individuals from six nations in Southeast Asia-Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The study population comprised healthcare and non-healthcare personnel. RESULTS:In total, 799 healthcare personnel and 1079 non-healthcare personnel completed an online survey. The prevalence of the awareness of their own HBV infection status and risk of this regionally endemic infection was 85.6% (684/799) among healthcare personnel and 54.0% (583/1079) among non-healthcare personnel. Similarly, 85.9% of healthcare personnel and 45.5% of non-healthcare personnel had good knowledge about disease transmission, complications, and the need for treatment, and 76.6% of healthcare personnel and 39.8% of non-healthcare personnel followed good HBV infection-prevention practices. Overall, 90.6% found the idea of treatment acceptable. Awareness had a significant impact on both knowledge and practice scores among both healthcare personnel and non-healthcare personnel (p < 0.01) but without statistically significant differences in treatment acceptance between the two groups (p = 0.61). CONCLUSIONS:Awareness of HBV infection was relatively low among non-healthcare personnel in Southeast Asian populations. The provision of additional hepatitis B awareness campaigns is crucial to eliminating viral hepatitis in the region.

Original publication

DOI

10.3855/jidc.10479

Type

Journal article

Journal

Journal of infection in developing countries

Publication Date

07/2019

Volume

13

Pages

656 - 664

Addresses

Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. kps.kpsoe@gmail.com.

Keywords

Humans, Hepatitis B, Prevalence, Cross-Sectional Studies, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Middle Aged, Asia, Southeastern, Female, Male, Disease Transmission, Infectious, Young Adult, Surveys and Questionnaires