The mean age of the THs was 49.2 ± 11.2 years, and the majority (63.4%) were aged 40 to < 60 years. The majority of THs were males (88.7%), with a male-to-female ratio of 7.9. Regarding education, almost half of the THs (54.9%) had completed secondary education. Catholic and Protestant Christians were the majority among those surveyed (29.6% and 42.3%, respectively). The Shi and Lega tribes constituted 52.1% and 32.4% respectively. The THs who took part in the study were from Ibanda health zone (38.0%), Kadutu health zone (35.2%), and Bagira health zone (26.8%). More than two thirds of them (67.6%) had not received any training in taking care of patients with HIV/AIDS infection. Among those who had been trained, 82.5% had received formal training.
Most participants knew that a person cannot get HIV by sharing a glass of water with someone who has HIV (84.5%) and that having sex with more than one partner can increase a person’s chance of being infected with HIV (87.3%). On the other hand, less than 30% of participants acknowledged that a natural skin condom is no more effective against HIV than a latex condom and that coughing and sneezing do not transmit HIV. Only 8.5% of THs knew that coughing and sneezing do not spread the virus. The percentages of correct answers for the other items ranged from 30–80%.
Overall, 47.9% of study participants had poor knowledge about HIV/AIDS infection, 45.1% of them had fair knowledge and only 7.0% had good knowledge (Table 1 and Fig. 1). The knowledge score ranged between 5.5–88.9 points with a mean of 53.1 ± 17.7 points.
Table 2 shows the availability of infection control resources at the THs’ offices. Less than two thirds of the THs (64.8%) had soap and water in their offices, and a waste bin dedicated to the disposal of medical waste (63.4%). Safety boxes for disposing of used blades and needles were present in more than one third (36.6%) of THs’ offices. Nearly a quarter of THs' offices had a supply of gloves (25.4%) and masks (23.9%) in the treatment room. Less than a tenth of THs (8.5%) had face shields in their offices, and bloodstains could be seen on furniture or floor of their offices (9.9%).
In the majority of observations, THs complied with no reuse of needles (87.3%), razor blades (74.6%), and gloves (74.6%). Two practices were complied with in 50–70% of observations: correct hand-washing technique before patient care and no scarification. Five infection control practices; namely wearing gloves when making scarification, using safety boxes to dispose used blades/needles, wearing medical gowns during care, using sterile devices while practicing enema, and wearing a mask during care were the most challenging to implement (THs complied with these practices in less than 50% of observations). Wearing face shields during care was the most difficult practice to complete (only 5.6% of observations). Generally, 43.7% of THs had poor infection control practices, 52.1% of THs had fair practices, and only 4.2% of participants had good practices (Table 3 and Fig. 2). TH practice scores ranged from 9.1 to 81.8 points with a mean of 51.9 ± 15.9.
Table 4 compares the mean scores for HIV-related knowledge and infection control practices of THs according to their personal and demographic characteristics. The mean knowledge score of THs who had training in taking care of HIV/AIDS (10.6 ± 3.0) was slightly higher than the mean knowledge score of participants who did not have training in taking care of PLHIV (9.0 ± 3.2). No statistically significant differences were observed between participants' mean knowledge scores for the majority of the personal and demographic characteristics studied (p > 0.05). The average infection control practice score of THs with a university degree (6.3 ± 1.9) was slightly higher than that of participants with up to secondary education (5.8 ± 1.7), but without showing any statistically significant difference. THs who had received training in taking care of HIV/AIDS (6.4 ± 1.6) had significantly (p = 0.025) higher good practices than those who had not received training in taking care of HIV/AIDS (5.4 ± 1.8). The other characteristics did not show any statistically significant difference in the mean practice scores.
Results of multiple linear regression analysis are summarized in Table 5. None of the personal and demographic variables studied were significant predictors for THs knowledge about HIV/AIDS (p > 0.05). In terms of practices, two variables were significant predictors for infection control practices; namely living in Ibanda and receiving training in taking care of HIV/AIDS.