1. 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?
- Author
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Chukwuemeka Haffner, Olukemi Adekanmbi, James B.W. Russell, Joseph Sam Kanu, Xuejun Guo, Matilda N Kamara, Umu Barrie, Emmanuel Firima, Mohamed Samai, Le Yi, Mohamed Boie Jalloh, Stephen Sevalie, Christiana Kallon, Enanga Sonia Namanaga, Sulaiman Lakoh, Christine Ellen Elleanor Williams, Joseph Chukwudi Okeibunor, Sylvia Adama Kamara, Mohamed Akmed Salim Kamara, Sarah K. Conteh, Mohamed Gbeshay Sheku, Gibrilla F. Deen, Gladys Nanilla Kamara, Anna Maruta, and Darlinda F. Jiba
- Subjects
Hand rub ,Hand washing ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,compliance ,Article ,Sierra Leone ,Sierra leone ,Regional hospital ,Infectious Diseases ,Hygiene ,hand hygiene ,alcohol-based hand rub ,Capital city ,Medicine ,Infection control ,Business ,Socioeconomics ,hand washing ,media_common - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2021