RESEARCH Open Access Attitude, reporting behavour and

management practice of occupational needle stick and sharps injuries among hospital healthcare workers in Bale zone, Southeast Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study Tolesa Bekele1*, Alem Gebremariam2, Muhammedawel Kaso1 and Kemal Ahmed1 Background: Although the prevalence of blood borne pathogens in many developing countries is high, documentation of infections due to occupational exposure is limited. Seventy percent of the world’s HIV infected population lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, but only 4 % of cases are reported from this region. Under reporting of needle stick and/or sharps injuries in healthcare facilities was common. Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in December 2014 among healthcare workers in four hospitals of Bale zone, Southeast Ethiopia. A total of 362 healthcare workers were selected randomly from each of the working departments. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire and were entered using Epi-Info version 3.5 and analysed using SPSS version 20.0. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent effect of each variable on the reporting behaviour of needle stick and/or sharp injury