Page 199 - GHES-3-3

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Blood exposure in Cameroon healthcare workers

Figure 4. Reporting estimates of occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids cases among healthcare workers in Cameroon from 2010 to 2023
Abbreviation: CI: Confidence interval.

A B

C

Figure 5. Funnel plot with pseudo 95% confidence limits of the included studies: (A) 12-month prevalence, (B) lifetime prevalence, and (C) reporting profile
et al., 2023). This first systematic review and meta-analysis of this study indicate that HCWs in Cameroon are at a high
aimed to estimate the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of risk of contracting infections from BBFs, particularly HIV,
occupational exposure to BBFs among HCWs in Cameroon, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. These findings are consistent
providing evidence of the burden of this phenomenon with studies conducted in other sub-Saharan African and
among this professional group. We included a total of Asian countries, where rates of occupational exposure to
15 study reports that investigated the prevalence of BBF BBFs are also high (Alamneh et al., 2020; Goel et al., 2017;
exposure and demonstrated a high burden of occupational Sahiledengle et al., 2020; and Shi et al., 2020). Reports from
exposure to BBFs among HCWs in Cameroon. worldwide systematic reviews and meta-analyses depict

More than half of HCWs experience occupational similar trends (Bouya et al., 2020).
exposure either in a lifetime (57.27%) or within a The study results suggest that HCWs in Cameroon are at
12-month (55.44%) period. Occupational exposure to a high risk of exposure to BBFs, especially in intermediate-
BBFs is a major public health problem in Cameroon, as it level health facilities and in regions other than the center.
does in many other countries around the world. The results Health facilities in the center region, particularly the

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 191 https://doi.org/10.36922/GHES025090016