## 4 Discussion  
This study assessed the knowledge of nurses regarding HIV PEP in order to identify the risks of contracting HIV infection in the era of controlled and stable HIV prevalence. The nurses' working experience in the clinical areas ranged from 4 months to 32 years. The results showed that the hospital from which the respondents operated does have HIV PEP protocol and guidelines in place. A significant majority (90.43%; \(p\)\(<\) 0.0001)) of the respondents reported to have been informed about HIV PEP protocol, similarly to the study conducted in Nigeria in which 90.4% were informed of HIV PEP [11]. However, this index study has shown that a significantly high proportion of respondents were knowledgeable about the meaning of HIV PEP (79.79%; \(p\)\(<\) 0.0001)) and informed of the clinical practice, compared to the rates of 22.42% to 69.5% observed in other studies [13; 15]. The majority of respondents in this index study had knowledge of reporting to their immediate supervisor prior to seeking HIV PEP (88.30%; \(p\)\(<\) 0.0001), although this was low compared to the rates of 95.3% found in a similar study [22]. The poor reporting of occupational exposures has been reported by other studies [5; 11]. In line with this index study finding, our study showed that the majority of respondents indicated that the maximum time delay to access HIV PEP services after an accidental occupational exposure is within 72 h. The study found that a lack of knowledge regarding reporting protocol and guidelines increases the lack of reporting occupational exposures over time. Thus, the contact person in the event of occupational exposure should be known by all HCWs at the hospital level. Proper awareness could encourage nurses to protect themselves from exposures to \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Biographical Characteristics** &
\begin{tabular}{l} **Knowledge and Understanding about** \\ **HIV/AIDS Infection and PEP** \\ \end{tabular} & **Chi-Square** & **Degrees of Freedom** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Gender} & Post Exposure Prophylaxis is started as & & & \\  & soon as possible, preferably within 72 h & 12.27480 & 2 & 0.00216 \\  & of exposure. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Age} & Precutionary measures should be taken & & & \\  & when handling blood and body fluids. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Working Experience} & After exposure to hazardous blood and & & & \\  & body fluids, health care workers can take & & & \\  & Post Exposure Prophylaxis to prevent & 1632.082 & 1504 & 0.0117 \\  & HIV infection. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Professional Qualification} & HIV Post Exposure Prophylaxis is & & & \\  & a short-term medical therapy to prevent & 1077.075 & 992 & 0.0312 \\  & the spread of HIV infection. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Professional Qualification} & Post Exposure Prophylaxis is started as & & & \\  & soon as possible, preferably within 72 h & 13.25414 & 4 & 0.0101 \\  & of exposure. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Working Experience} & HIV Post Exposure Prophylaxis is & & & \\  & a short-term medical therapy to prevent & 170.0244 & 124 & 0.0039 \\  & the spread of HIV infection. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Working Experience} & As immediate first aid after exposure to & & & \\  & hazardous blood and body fluids, health care workers should wash the affected & 47.06067 & 16 & 0.0001 \\ \cline{1-1}  & area with clean water and soap. & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Association between biographical characteristics and knowledge of HIV PEP. BBFs, and seeking PEP can prevent contracting the infection. Poor awareness implies poor HIV PEP practices, resulting in the occupational transmission of HIV infection, as the study found that level of professional qualification and working experience had an association with the responses provided by the respondents.