Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2014, 4, 621-627 Published Online July 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojog http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojog.2014.410086 How to cite this paper: Adeyemi, A.S., Afolabi, A.F. and Adeomi, A.A. (2014) Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection in Pregnancy: Knowledge and Practice of Care Providers in Nigeria. Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 4, 621-627. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojog.2014.410086 Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection in Pregnancy: Knowledge and Practice of Care Providers in Nigeria Adewale S. Adeyemi 1 , Adeola F. Afolabi 1 , Adeleye A. Adeomi 2 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Health Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria 2 Department of Community Medicine, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Nigeria Email: drafolabiaf@gmail.com Received 8 May 2014; revised 5 June 2014; accepted 1 July 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Purpose: To determine the practice of obstetric care providers regarding routine screening for hepatitis B virus infection, and to assess their knowledge of the management of the positive preg- nant women. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study of obstetric care providers in south- western Nigeria. Mean and standard deviation was used to summarize continuous variables while frequency and percentage was used for categorical variables. Categorical variables were com- pared with chi-square test and Fisher’s exact tests as appropriate; while continuous variables were compared using the t-test. The level of statistical significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. Scoring of the outcome variables for knowledge was done, and the score categorized into good and poor knowledge, depending on if the respondent scored above or below the mean score. Results: Three hundred and eighty-one (67.4%) of the care givers routinely screen pregnant women for the se- rum marker (HBSAg) of HBV infection. Two hundred and seventy-four (48.5%) of the respondents had good knowledge score of the management of HBV infection in pregnancy. Routine screening for HBV infection was significantly associated with age (p = 0.002), years of practice (p < 0.001), specialty (p = 0.001) and professional cadre (p < 0.001), while knowledge was significantly asso- ciated with age (p = 0.012), years of practice (p = 0.003), specialty (p = 0.047) and types of practice (p = 0.014). Conclusion: Screening for HBV infection in pregnant women is not universal in south- western Nigeria, and the care providers have poor knowledge of the management of the positive mothers. Keywords HBV Infection, Obstetric Care Providers, Routine Screening, Management, Nigeria