scholarly journals Safe Healthcare Facilities: A Systematic Review on the Costs of Establishing and Maintaining Environmental Health in Facilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Author(s):  
Darcy M. Anderson ◽  
Ryan Cronk ◽  
Donald Fejfar ◽  
Emily Pak ◽  
Michelle Cawley ◽  
...  

A hygienic environment is essential to provide quality patient care and prevent healthcare-acquired infections. Understanding costs is important to budget for service delivery, but costs evidence for environmental health services (EHS) in healthcare facilities (HCFs) is lacking. We present the first systematic review to evaluate the costs of establishing, operating, and maintaining EHS in HCFs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We systematically searched for studies costing water, sanitation, hygiene, cleaning, waste management, personal protective equipment, vector control, laundry, and lighting in LMICs. Our search yielded 36 studies that reported costs for 51 EHS. There were 3 studies that reported costs for water, 3 for sanitation, 4 for hygiene, 13 for waste management, 16 for cleaning, 2 for personal protective equipment, 10 for laundry, and none for lighting or vector control. Quality of evidence was low. Reported costs were rarely representative of the total costs of EHS provision. Unit costs were infrequently reported. This review identifies opportunities to improve costing research through efforts to categorize and disaggregate EHS costs, greater dissemination of existing unpublished data, improvements to indicators to monitor EHS demand and quality necessary to contextualize costs, and development of frameworks to define EHS needs and essential inputs to guide future costing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ekpereonne Esu ◽  
Utibeabasi Ekanem

Objective: Rapid urbanization and industrialization in the many low- and middle-income countries means that there is a growing demand for the welding industry. Previous studies in Nigeria, and other low- and middle-income countries have reported a significant discrepancy between awareness and consistent and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). This study assessed the awareness and utilization of PPE among small-scale welders in Calabar South, Cross River State, Nigeria. Methods: This study was conducted in Calabar South Local Government Area using a descriptive cross-sectional design. Data collection was with an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire, and an observation checklist was used to monitor the use of PPE among small-scale welders. Results:  One hundred and sixteen small-scale welders were surveyed with a mean age of 34.9 ±9.1 years. Almost 90% of respondents had completed at least primary education. Eighty-one respondents (69.8%) were aware of PPE. Three-quarters of respondents (61/81) knew PPE protected the user from injury. The most frequently identified type of welding PPE among the respondents aware of PPE, were safety goggles (38.3%), hand gloves (25.9%), safety boots (19.8%), and coveralls (9.9%). 83.6% had access to PPE at work. However, only 14.4% reported using PPE consistently. Observation revealed that the PPE most frequently used, sunglasses, were not the recommended welding goggles. Conclusion:  The low utilization of PPE calls for stricter enforcement of occupational health and safety regulations among welders in the informal sector, including implementing PPE awareness programs.







SICOT-J ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Boughton ◽  
Gareth G. Jones ◽  
Christopher B.D. Lavy ◽  
Caris E. Grimes


2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802110160
Author(s):  
Seema Vyas ◽  
Melissa Meinhart ◽  
Katrina Troy ◽  
Hannah Brumbaum ◽  
Catherine Poulton ◽  
...  

Evidence demonstrating the economic burden of violence against women and girls can support policy and advocacy efforts for investment in violence prevention and response programming. We undertook a systematic review of evidence on the costs of violence against women and girls in low- and middle-income countries published since 2005. In addition to understanding costs, we examined the consistency of methodological approaches applied and identified and assessed common methodological issues. Thirteen articles were identified, eight of which were from sub-Saharan Africa. Eight studies estimated costs associated with domestic or intimate partner violence, others estimated the costs of interpersonal violence, female genital cutting, and sexual assaults. Methodologies applied to estimate costs were typically based on accounting approaches. Our review found that out-of-pocket expenditures to individuals for seeking health care after an episode of violence ranged from US$29.72 (South Africa) to US$156.11 (Romania) and that lost productivity averaged from US$73.84 to US$2,151.48 (South Africa) per facility visit. Most studies that estimated provider costs of service delivery presented total programmatic costs, and there was variation in interventions, scale, and resource inputs measured which hampered comparability. Variations in methodological assumptions and data availability also made comparisons across countries and settings challenging. The limited scope of studies in measuring the multifaceted impacts of violence highlights the challenges in identifying cost metrics that extend beyond specific violence episodes. Despite the limited evidence base, our assessment leads us to conclude that the estimated costs of violence against women and girls are a fraction of its true economic burden.



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