Knowledge And Practice Of Vaccine Logistics Management Among Primary Healthcare Workers In Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The laudable immunization programmes aimed at disease prevention require good knowledge and practice of vaccine logistics management among primary healthcare workers who are the custodians and administrators of these vaccines. This study assessed the knowledge and practice of vaccine logistics management among Primary Healthcare Workers in Enugu State, Nigeria. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study among 160 randomly selected primary healthcare workers. Interviewer-administered semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire was used and data was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Overall knowledge and practice of vaccine logistics management of respondents were 54.4% and 75.6% respectively. More respondents in the age group of 36-45 years (69.6%), females (55.6%), males (43.8%), tertiary education (54.5%) and 6-10 years of experience (64.4%) had good knowledge. There was statistically significant association of overall knowledge of vaccine logistic management and age p-value = 0.000, years of experience p-value = 0.013 and marital status p-value = 0.009. However, it was not significant for gender p-value = 0.368 and educational level p-value = 0.573. Respondents in age group of 36–45 years (85.8%), females (78%), males (50.0%), secondary and tertiary education (76.9%) and more than 11 years of experience (87.1%) had good practice. There was statistically significant association of overall good practice of vaccine logistic management and age p-value = 0.003, gender p-value = 0.012 and years of experience p-value = 0.000. However, no significant association with educational level p-value = 0.104 and marital status p-value = 0.169. Majority of respondents (36.3%) had no formal training, 30.6% had formal training with 66.3% preferring training every six months. Gaps in knowledge and practice of vaccine logistics management still exist among the respondents which regular training, supportive supervision, and availability of vaccine logistics Standard Operating Procedures will go a long way to close.