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Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!

Introduction: Good Infection prevention and control (IPC) is vital for tackling antimicrobial resistance and limiting health care-associated infections. We compared IPC performance before (2019) and during the COVID-19 (2021) era at the national IPC unit and all regional (4) and district hospitals (...

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Autores principales: Fofanah, Bobson Derrick, Abrahamyan, Arpine, Maruta, Anna, Kallon, Christiana, Thekkur, Pruthu, Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn, Njuguna, Charles Kuria, Squire, James Sylvester, Kanu, Joseph Sam, Bah, Abdulai Jawo, Lakoh, Sulaiman, Kamara, Dauda, Hermans, Veerle, Zachariah, Rony
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9102022/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35565037
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095642
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author Fofanah, Bobson Derrick
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Maruta, Anna
Kallon, Christiana
Thekkur, Pruthu
Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn
Njuguna, Charles Kuria
Squire, James Sylvester
Kanu, Joseph Sam
Bah, Abdulai Jawo
Lakoh, Sulaiman
Kamara, Dauda
Hermans, Veerle
Zachariah, Rony
author_facet Fofanah, Bobson Derrick
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Maruta, Anna
Kallon, Christiana
Thekkur, Pruthu
Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn
Njuguna, Charles Kuria
Squire, James Sylvester
Kanu, Joseph Sam
Bah, Abdulai Jawo
Lakoh, Sulaiman
Kamara, Dauda
Hermans, Veerle
Zachariah, Rony
author_sort Fofanah, Bobson Derrick
collection PubMed
description Introduction: Good Infection prevention and control (IPC) is vital for tackling antimicrobial resistance and limiting health care-associated infections. We compared IPC performance before (2019) and during the COVID-19 (2021) era at the national IPC unit and all regional (4) and district hospitals (8) in Sierra Leone. Methods: Cross-sectional assessments using standardized World Health Organizations IPC checklists. IPC performance scores were graded as inadequate = 0–25%, basic = 25.1–50%, intermediate = 50.1–75%, and advanced = 75.1–100%. Results: Overall performance improved from ‘basic’ to ‘intermediate’ at the national IPC unit (41% in 2019 to 58% in 2021) and at regional hospitals (37% in 2019 to 54% in 2021) but remained ‘basic’ at district hospitals (37% in 2019 to 50% in 2021). Priority gaps at the national IPC unit included lack of: a dedicated IPC budget, monitoring the effectiveness of IPC trainings and health care-associated infection surveillance. Gaps at hospitals included no assessment of hospital staffing needs, inadequate infrastructure for IPC and lack of a well-defined monitoring plan with clear goals, targets and activities. Conclusion: Although there is encouraging progress in IPC performance, it is slower than desired in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is urgent need to mobilize political will, leadership and resources and make a quantum leap forward.
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spelling pubmed-91020222022-05-14 Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era! Fofanah, Bobson Derrick Abrahamyan, Arpine Maruta, Anna Kallon, Christiana Thekkur, Pruthu Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn Njuguna, Charles Kuria Squire, James Sylvester Kanu, Joseph Sam Bah, Abdulai Jawo Lakoh, Sulaiman Kamara, Dauda Hermans, Veerle Zachariah, Rony Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Introduction: Good Infection prevention and control (IPC) is vital for tackling antimicrobial resistance and limiting health care-associated infections. We compared IPC performance before (2019) and during the COVID-19 (2021) era at the national IPC unit and all regional (4) and district hospitals (8) in Sierra Leone. Methods: Cross-sectional assessments using standardized World Health Organizations IPC checklists. IPC performance scores were graded as inadequate = 0–25%, basic = 25.1–50%, intermediate = 50.1–75%, and advanced = 75.1–100%. Results: Overall performance improved from ‘basic’ to ‘intermediate’ at the national IPC unit (41% in 2019 to 58% in 2021) and at regional hospitals (37% in 2019 to 54% in 2021) but remained ‘basic’ at district hospitals (37% in 2019 to 50% in 2021). Priority gaps at the national IPC unit included lack of: a dedicated IPC budget, monitoring the effectiveness of IPC trainings and health care-associated infection surveillance. Gaps at hospitals included no assessment of hospital staffing needs, inadequate infrastructure for IPC and lack of a well-defined monitoring plan with clear goals, targets and activities. Conclusion: Although there is encouraging progress in IPC performance, it is slower than desired in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is urgent need to mobilize political will, leadership and resources and make a quantum leap forward. MDPI 2022-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9102022/ /pubmed/35565037 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095642 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Fofanah, Bobson Derrick
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Maruta, Anna
Kallon, Christiana
Thekkur, Pruthu
Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn
Njuguna, Charles Kuria
Squire, James Sylvester
Kanu, Joseph Sam
Bah, Abdulai Jawo
Lakoh, Sulaiman
Kamara, Dauda
Hermans, Veerle
Zachariah, Rony
Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title_full Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title_fullStr Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title_full_unstemmed Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title_short Achieving Minimum Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone: Urgent Need for a Quantum Leap in Progress in the COVID-19 Era!
title_sort achieving minimum standards for infection prevention and control in sierra leone: urgent need for a quantum leap in progress in the covid-19 era!
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9102022/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35565037
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095642
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