Anoshia Raza, Adeela Wahab, Shamsa Amin, Syeda Zauveen Ejaz, Ushna Ashraf, Uzma Majeed, Sina Aziz.
Effects of counseling and education to patients presenting with hepatitis at a tertiary care hospital.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;52(1):8-11.

Background: Hepatitis is an escalating problem in Pakistan due to lack of awareness about its risk factors. Objectives: To create awareness about risk factors for hepatitis in patients coming for its treatment at a tertiary care hospital using a counseling intervention. Patients and Methods: The study was conducted at civil hospital, Karachi. Patients having hepatitis B or C were enrolled. Each patient filled a pre and post counseling questionnaire (after 6 months). Results A total of 153 hepatitis positive patients were counseled. There were 108 females and 45 males. Majority (83) had hepatitis C virus, 56 had hepatitis B virus, 08 had co-infection of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis D virus and 06 had hepatitis B virus with hepatitis C virus. Counseling was done on multiple parameters. Pre counseling figures for using brand new syringes were 32% which improved to 81% after counseling, for using screened blood these changed from 22% to 81%, for sterilized dental instruments they improved from 21% to 65% and for avoiding road side barbers they improved from 58% to 78%. The figures for hepatitis B virus vaccination in hepatitis C virus patients rose from 3% to 36.6% and for families rose from 2.6% to 43.1%. Conclusions: Great improvements were seen in the awareness and health seeking behavior of hepatitis cases following behavior change communication. Policy message: More stress should be given on preventive strategies through mass awareness and counseling programs to control disease spread.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com