title: Comparing the knowledge, attitude and practices of health care workers in public and private primary care facilities in Lagos State on Ebola virus disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The West African sub-region is currently witnessing an outbreak of EVD that began in December 2013. The first case in Nigeria was diagnosed in Lagos, at a private medical facility in July 2014. Health care workers are known amplifiers of the disease. The study aimed to determine and compare EVD knowledge, attitude and practices among HCWs in public and private primary care facilities in Lagos, Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a comparative cross-sectional study. Seventeen public and private primary care facilities were selected from the 3 senatorial districts that make up Lagos State. 388 respondents from these facilities were selected at random and interviewed using a structured questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Proportion of respondents with good knowledge and practice among public HCWs was 98.5% and 93.8%; and among private HCW, 95.9% and 89.7%. Proportion of respondents with positive attitude was 67% (public) and 72.7% (private). Overall, there were no statistically significant differences between the knowledge, attitude and preventive practices of public HCWs and that of private HCWs, (p≤0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Timely and intense social mobilization and awareness campaigns are the best tools to educate all segments of the community about public health emergencies. There exists significant surmountable gaps in EVD knowledge, negative attitude and sub-standard preventive practices that can be eliminated through continued training of HCW and provision of adequate material resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Bilqisu Jibril
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Idris
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Inem
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Mobolanle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balogun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017150:Public Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EVD; HCW; Nigeria; Primary care; Primary health care; attitude; knowledge; practice