Knowledge and practice of health care workers towards post exposure prophylaxis in the era of low and stable HIV prevalence in Southwestern Nigeria

One hundred and four (34.7%) of respondents said they occasionally recap used needles, one hundred and eighty-one (60.3%) have heard about PEP. Only 2.7% had good mean knowledge scores while 57.3% and 40.0% had moderate and poor mean knowledge scores of PEP respectively. Only 24 (13.3%) knew the correct number of drugs combinations, 36 (19.9%) knew the antiretroviral drugs administered; 113 (62.4%) believed that the drugs were antibiotics. Forty-four (14.7%) had needle stick injuries in the last 6 months, out of which 29 (65.9%) used PEP. Predictors of good knowledge of PEP on logistic regression include male gender, having spent more than 5 years in hospital practice, having heard about PEP and being aware of the national PEP guidelines. There is a need to create better awareness about PEP among health care workers to reduce and prevent occupational HIV transmission.