Education for health providers in the prevention of the transmission of hepatitis C virus: a case study in rural Egypt.

In rural Egypt infection with the blood borne hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious public health problem with an overall prevalence of 10-15% and reaching 25% in some rural communities. To address the situation the Hepatitis C Prevention Project conducted a research project designed to develop a community level health education strategy that could form part of a national health education program for HCV. This paper describes the first stage of the study health education for providers at local primary health care facilities in two rural areas. Overall study showed that providers and villagers knew little about HCV and how it was transmitted. Many doctors and nurses apparently failed to link transmission routes to strategies for prevention. Observations and interviews about infection control procedures and their management and supervision indicated some problems in the following areas: injections sterilization of instruments gloves disposal of waste and management concerns.