Building Local Capacity in Hand-Rub Solution Production during the 2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak Disaster: The Case of Liberia and Guinea

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 660-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederique A Jacquerioz Bausch ◽  
Olivia Heller ◽  
Loséni Bengaly ◽  
Béatrice Matthey-Khouity ◽  
Pascal Bonnabry ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundDuring the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the lack of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in health care facilities amplified human-to-human transmission and contributed to the magnitude of this humanitarian disaster.Case ReportIn the summer of 2014, the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG; Geneva, Switzerland) conducted an IPC assessment and developed a project based on the local needs and their expertise with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Humanitarian Aid Unit (SDC/HA; Bern, Switzerland). The project consisted of building local capacity in the production of alcohol-based hand-rub solution (ABHRS) based on the World Health Organization (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) formula in non-Ebola health facilities at the peak of the outbreak in Liberia (Fall 2014) and during recovery in Guinea (September 2015) to promote safer care. Twenty-one pharmacists in Liberia and 22 in Guinea were trained and one years’ worth of laboratory equipment, chemical products, containers for personal use, and bioethanol were delivered to 10 hospitals per country with more than 8,000 100 ml bottles of solution produced at the end of the project.DiscussionHand hygiene using hand-rub solution is a critical component of safer care, especially in health care settings lacking runnable water. Throughout the Ebola outbreak, it was a timely moment to promote hand-rub solution and to reinforce IPC measures in non-Ebola health facilities. During the project implementation, a substantial challenge was the unavailability of bioethanol in Liberia and Guinea. In the long run, sustainability of the production can become an issue as it depends heavily on the local government’s financial and political commitment, the capacity to create an on-going demand for hand-rub solution in health facilities, the local purchase and replacement of the materials and chemical products, as well as the availability of continuous local partners’ support.Conclusion:The project demonstrated that it was feasible to build local capacity in ABHRS production during an emergency and in limited-resource settings when materials and training are provided. Future programs in similar contexts should identify and address the factors of sustainability during the implementation phase and provide regular, long-term technical support.Jacquerioz BauschFA, HellerO, BengalyL, Matthey-KhouityB, BonnabryP, TouréY, KervillainGJ, BahEI, ChappuisF, HagonO. Building local capacity in hand-rub solution production during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak disaster: the case of Liberia and Guinea.. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(6):660–667.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9964
Author(s):  
Maryam Lesan ◽  
Fatemeh Khozaei ◽  
Mi-Jeong Kim ◽  
Marziyeh Shahidi Nejad

During the past year, health care environments have struggled to cope with the various impacts of COVID-19 around the world. Health care facilities need to help strengthen resistance to pathogen threats and provide care for patients and health workers in the safest possible way. Architectural design strategies can play a significant role in infection prevention and control. The current study aims to examine the experiences of health workers with hospital spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the difficulties they face, the present study attempts to shed light on the role of the health care layout configuration in combating pandemics. The authors conducted observations at four hospitals and a series of online semi-structured interviews with 162 health care staff from March to May 2020. The study indicated that space configuration and the hospitalization of patients, layout and circulation of the environment, operation services such as indoor environment conditions, maintenance of health care system, and organizational support for health care staff were the most critical factors affecting infection control in health care environments. The initial zoning and separation of patients were the most effective methods of controlling infection. Hospitals with clustered plan layouts were found to be the most effective buildings for the zoning of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic and for infection control.


Author(s):  
Sudharshini Subramaniam ◽  
T. S. Selvavinayagam

Background: Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is one of the important components of Sustainable Development Goals which is essential for achieving any global health-related goals. WASH in health care facilities is prioritized as a necessary input to achieve health goals. Supportive Supervision has been established as an effective intervention in improving the performance of health care workers. This paper evaluates the role of supportive supervision in improving WASH facilities in the health care facilities of high priority districts of Tamil Nadu.Methods: The effectiveness of supportive supervision in improving WASH facilities was assessed through a pre-post experimental research design. World Health Organization proposed steps were followed while planning for the supportive supervision. Supervisory visits were made using checklists in all secondary level public health facilities in 7 High Priority Districts which were chosen based on the preliminary WASH survey conducted by UNICEF. The same health facilities were revisited after 3 months and supervised using the same checklist.Results: In the first supervisory visit, 41.6% of the health facilities (57 out of 137 facilities) were non- functional in terms of WASH score, while only 5.8% (8 out of 137 facilities) were fully functional. In the second visit, proportion of non- functional facilities had dropped from 41.6% to 7.3% and there has been an increase in the partially functional (52.6% to 71.5%) and fully functional facilities (5.8% to 21.2%) which was found to be statistically significant.Conclusions: Supportive supervision was able to show a significant improvement in the WASH facilities in all types of facilities. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 380-384
Author(s):  
Priyanka Paul Madhu ◽  
Yojana Patil ◽  
Aishwarya Rajesh Shinde ◽  
Sangeeta Kumar ◽  
Pratik Phansopkar

disease in 2019, also called COVID-19, which has been widely spread worldwide had given rise to a pandemic situation. The public health emergency of international concern declared the agent as the (SARS-CoV-2) the severe acute respiratory syndrome and the World Health Organization had activated significant surveillance to prevent the spread of this infection across the world. Taking into the account about the rigorousness of COVID-19, and in the spark of the enormous dedication of several dental associations, it is essential to be enlightened with the recommendations to supervise dental patients and prevent any of education to the dental graduates due to institutional closure. One of the approaching expertise that combines technology, communications and health care facilities are to refine patient care, it’s at the cutting edge of the present technological switch in medicine and applied sciences. Dentistry has been improved by cloud technology which has refined and implemented various methods to upgrade electronic health record system, educational projects, social network and patient communication. Technology has immensely saved the world. Economically and has created an institutional task force to uplift the health care service during the COVID 19 pandemic crisis. Hence, the pandemic has struck an awakening of the practice of informatics in a health care facility which should be implemented and updated at the highest priority.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saiendhra Vasudevan Moodley ◽  
Muzimkhulu Zungu ◽  
Molebogeng Malotle ◽  
Kuku Voyi ◽  
Nico Claassen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Health workers are crucial to the successful implementation of infection prevention and control strategies to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at healthcare facilities. The aim of our study was to determine SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control knowledge and attitudes of frontline health workers in four provinces of South Africa as well as explore some elements of health worker and health facility infection prevention and control practices. Methods A cross-sectional study design was utilised. The study population comprised both clinical and non-clinical staff working in casualty departments, outpatient departments, and entrance points of health facilities. A structured self-administered questionnaire was developed using the World Health Organization guidance as the basis for the knowledge questions. COVID-19 protocols were observed during data collection. Results A total of 286 health workers from 47 health facilities at different levels of care participated in the survey. The mean score on the 10 knowledge items was 6.3 (SD = 1.6). Approximately two-thirds of participants (67.4%) answered six or more questions correctly while less than a quarter of all participants (24.1%) managed to score eight or more. A knowledge score of 8 or more was significantly associated with occupational category (being either a medical doctor or nurse), age (< 40 years) and level of hospital (tertiary level). Only half of participants (50.7%) felt adequately prepared to deal with patients with COVD-19 at the time of the survey. The health workers displaying attitudes that would put themselves or others at risk were in the minority. Only 55.6% of participants had received infection prevention and control training. Some participants indicated they did not have access to medical masks (11.8%) and gloves (9.9%) in their departments. Conclusions The attitudes of participants reflected a willingness to engage in appropriate SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control practices as well as a commitment to be involved in COVID-19 patient care. Ensuring adequate infection prevention and control training for all staff and universal access to appropriate PPE were identified as key areas that needed to be addressed. Interim and final reports which identified key shortcomings that needed to be addressed were provided to the relevant provincial departments of health.


Author(s):  
Aaron Asibi Abuosi ◽  
Mahama Braimah

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine patient satisfaction with the quality of care in Ghana’s health-care facilities using a disaggregated approach. Design/methodology/approach The study was a cross-sectional national survey. A sample of 4,079 males and females in the age group of 15-49 years were interviewed. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis and t-tests were used in statistical analysis. Findings About 70 per cent of patients were satisfied with the quality of care provided in health-care facilities in Ghana, whereas about 30 per cent of patients were fairly satisfied. Females and insured patients were more likely to be satisfied with the quality of care, compared with males and uninsured patients. Research limitations/implications Because data were obtained from a national survey, the questionnaire did not include the type of facility patients attended to find out whether satisfaction with the quality of care varied by the type of health facility. Future studies may, therefore, include this. Practical implications The study contributes to the literature on patient satisfaction with the quality of care. It highlights that long waiting time remains an intractable problem at various service delivery units of health facilities and constitutes a major source of patient dissatisfaction with the quality of care. Innovative measures must, therefore, be adopted to address the problem. Originality/value There is a paucity of research that uses a disaggregated approach to examine patient satisfaction with the quality of care at various service delivery units of health facilities. This study is a modest contribution to this research gap.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (E) ◽  
pp. 179-186
Author(s):  
Eman Moawad Elhabashi ◽  
Reham Farouk Tawfik ◽  
Fatma Maamoun Abou-Hashima ◽  
Arwa Mohamed El Shafei ◽  
Fayrouz El-Aguizy

BACKGROUND: Since first confirmed case of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 in December 2019 by Chinese health authorities and subsequent World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that COVID-19 is a global public health crisis, radical changes have occurred all over the world associating massive lockdown with increased numbers of infected cases and related mortalities. As health care workers (HCWs) are at a great risk to get COVID-19 infection and hence can be a dangerous source of spreading it to the community, it was important to assess HCWs knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) to help limit the outcomes of COVID-19. AIM: The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physicians regarding COVID-19 IPC. METHODS: Research setting is “Kasr Al-Ainy” Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University Hospital. Design: A cross-sectional analytical observational hospital-based research in June 2020. Population: A convenient sample of 50 physicians working at Cairo University Hospital was included. Data collection: Self-administered questionnaires derived from the WHO IPC guide during health care when COVID-19 is suspected were used. RESULTS: Mean age of studied group was 30.5 ± 3.97, while their mean years of practice were 4.7 ± 3.55. Mean knowledge score among physicians was 5.6 (± 0.56), two-thirds of them had sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19 IPC as their mean attitude score among 24.9 (± 2.8). While mean practice scores 5.6 (± 1.05), yet only 68% of the participating physicians use a new set of personal protective equipment when care is given to a different patient. CONCLUSION: Physician’s moderate knowledge, poor attitude, and modest practice toward COVID-19 IPC were found to be not sufficient, not favorable nor safe enough to expected standards.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Weldemariam Gebrehiwot ◽  
Mulugeta Woldu Abrha ◽  
Haftom Gebrehiwot Weldearegay

Abstract Background The period around childbirth and the first 24 hours postpartum remains a perilous time for both mother and newborn. Health care providers’ compliance to the World Health Organization modified partogram across the active first stage of labor is a graphic representation of a mother’s condition that is used as a guide in providing quality obstetrics care. However, little evidence is documented on the health providers’ adherence to the use of the partograph in Ethiopia, which limits health care providers’ ability to improve quality care services. Therefore, this study assessed the adherence of partograph use and associated factors in Ethiopia. Methods Data from the Ethiopian 2016 National Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care survey of 3,804 health facilities that provided maternity services were used. We extracted 2611 partograph charts over a 12 months period prior to the survey to review the proper recording of each component. Data analyses were performed using SPSS version 22.0 software. A logistic regression analyses was used to identify the association of explanatory variables with the outcome variable. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as cut off point to declare the significance association in the multivariable analysis. Results Of the total 2611 partographs reviewed, 561(21.5%) of them were fully recorded as per the WHO guideline. Particularly, molding in 50%, color of liquor in 70.5%, fetal heart beat in 93.3%, cervical dilation in 89.6%, descent in 63.2%, uterine contraction in 94.5%, blood pressure in 80.5%, pulse rate in 70.5%, and temperature in 53% were accurately recorded. The odds of adherence to partograph use were 1.4 in rural health facilities when compared to their counterparts (AOR=1.44; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.80, P- 0.002). Conclusion This study revealed a poor level of adherence in partograph use in Ethiopia. Molding, maternal temperature and decent were the least recorded parameters of the partograph. The odds of completion of partograph were high in rural facilities. Strong supporting supervision and mentoring the health workers to better record and use of partograph are needed mainly in urban health facilities. Moreover in the future, interventional research should be conducted to improve the current rate of adherence.


Author(s):  
O. M. Alabintei ◽  
P. W. Alabrah ◽  
I. J. Abasi

Background: The lack of properly-stocked facilities with basic and essential equipment and supplies as well as clinical guidelines required to successfully manage Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) has been reported in developing, low-income countries. It is necessary to ensure properly stocked health facilities for effective health care delivery. This study set out to assess the capacity of the health facilities in Bayelsa, Nigeria for the management of cases of eclampsia. Methods: A descriptive design was used in the conduct of this research in which 155 workers were recruited. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select health facilities for the study. The study instruments included a self-administered structured questionnaire, an interview guide, and an inventory checklist. Data entry, cleaning and analysis were done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Descriptive and inferential statistics were generated using the data. Results: It was found in this study that though MgSO4 was present in one (8.33%) primary and two (66.6%) secondary health facilities visited, no guide on how to administer and monitor the patients was available. The majority of the workforce in the primary health facility were the CHEW/CHO (48%), followed by midwives (16.9%) and then nurses (12.3%).Doctors constituted 7.7% while  pharmacists and pharmacist technicians constituted 6.2% and 9.2% respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study revealed that facilities assessed lacked most of the basic and essential equipment, supplies and drugs, required for the successful management of PE/E. For effective management of cases of eclampsia, it is very essential that there should be a continuous supply of necessary tools, drugs and functioning equipment needed for the management of PE/E in all health care facilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1581-1586
Author(s):  
A.A. Enaigbe ◽  
C.C. Irodi

The health-care acquired infections (HCAIs) occur world-wide among persons undergoing medical attention in health institutions and result in unexpected long-term stay, disability and financial loses. The most predominant infections are catheter associated urinary tract, central line associated, surgical site and ventilator associated pneumonia infections. The patients are prone to infections during hospitalization from varied environmental sources, hands of health-care professionals, medical equipment and other infected patients. The frequent factors affecting patients on admission are improper hand hygiene, contact with infected patients, adverse drug events and surgical complications. Patients under health-care delivery can acquire infection disseminated from food, water, aerosols and hospital wastes. The application of personal protective equipment, routine educational interventions are common approaches that can help stop HCAIs and save lives, decrease death rate and health delivery expenses. In buttressing this, the World Health Organization (WHO) enunciated guidelines to enhance hand washing practices, infection prevention and control programme, monitored use of antibiotics and its resistance. The other measures included global adoption of efficient surveillance system and the impact of relevant stakeholders in health sectors needed to prevent and control hospital acquired infections.


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