Assessment of knowledge and attitude of patients

This book tries to discuss about knowledge and attitude of privacy in Ethiopia. Privacy is the state of being free from intrusion and in the context of health care it concerns the responsibility of a care provider to protect a patient from any disclosure (i.e. discovery by others) even unintentional of personal health data by providing security to the patient and the patient’s records. Confidentiality in contrast is the limiting of information to only those for whom it is appropriate. Patients who had good knowledge on the importance of keeping privacy during medical consultation were 206 (48.8%). Among the patients included in the study about half of them (n=217 51.4%) believed that keeping privacy is the obligation of health worker. Respondents were asked about the difference between privacy and confidentiality only 32 (7.6%) knew the difference. The Ethiopian Constitution also states that “Everyone has the right to privacy” which also applies in health management system. However information with regard to such study is not available in the country thus addressing the issue of privacy is important to fill the information gap.