An Intra-COVID-19 Assessment of Hand Hygiene Facility, Policy and Staff Compliance in Two Hospitals in Sierra Leone: Is There a Difference between Regional and Capital City Hospitals?

Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease

Sylvia Adama Kamara¹  Gladys Nanilla Kamara¹  Mohamed Akmed Salim Kamara¹  Xuejun Guo²  Le Yi²  Emmanuel Firima³  Matilda N. Kamara⁴  Stephen Sevalie⁴  Sulaiman Lakoh⁴  Joseph Sam Kanu⁴  Gibrilla F. Deen⁴  James B. W. Russell⁴  Mohamed Boie Jalloh⁴  Mohamed Samai⁴  Olukemi Adekanmbi⁵  Umu Barrie⁶  Sarah K. Conteh⁷  Christiana Kallon⁷  Enanga Sonia Namanaga⁷  Chukwuemeka Haffner⁷  Christine Ellen Elleanor Williams⁷  Darlinda F. Jiba⁷  Mohamed Gbeshay Sheku⁷  Anna Maruta⁸  Joseph Chukwudi Okeibunor⁹ 

[1] 34 Military Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone;Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130122, China;Clinical Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland;College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone;Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan 200005, Nigeria;Infectious Disease Research Network, Freetown, Sierra Leone;Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Government of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone;World Health Organization Country Office, Freetown, Sierra Leone;World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville P.O. Box 06, Congo;

关键词: hand hygiene;    hand washing;    alcohol-based hand rub;    compliance;    Sierra Leone;   

DOI  :  10.3390/tropicalmed6040204

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Although hand hygiene (HH) is the most effective intervention to reduce the spread of infections, there are limited data on HH facilities, policy, and compliance in sub-Saharan Africa. This cross-sectional study is aimed at assessing HH using the WHO HH self-assessment framework, HH technical reference manual, and a modified infection control self-assessment tool in two hospitals in Sierra Leone. Only 10% and 9% of regional and capital city hospitals had running tap water, respectively. Veronica buckets were the resources for HH in 89% of units in the regional hospital and 92% of units in capital city hospital. Constant supply of soap and alcohol-based hand rub was available in 82% and 68%; and 74% and 79% of units in the capital city and regional hospitals, respectively. Only 10% of the units in both hospitals had hand-drying facilities and functional sinks. Overall HH compliance for the two hospitals was 18.6% and was higher in the regional (20.8%) than the capital city (17.0%) hospitals. The HH levels for the capital city and regional hospitals were 277.5 and 262.5 respectively. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still challenges with HH compliance in Sierra Leone. It is, therefore, necessary to strengthen the HH multi-modal strategy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown