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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?
JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift)
ID
4646309
Author(s)
Lakoh, S.; Firima, E.; Williams, C. E. E.; Conteh, S. K.; Jalloh, M. B.; Sheku, M. G.; Adekanmbi, O.; Sevalie, S.; Kamara, S. A.; Kamara, M. A. S.; Barrie, U.; Kamara, G. N.; Yi, L.; Guo, X.; Haffner, C.; Kamara, M. N.; Jiba, D. F.; Namanaga, E. S.; Maruta, A.; Kallon, C.; Kanu, J. S.; Deen, G. F.; Samai, M.; Okeibunor, J. C.; Russell, J. B. W.
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?
Journal
Trop Med Infect Dis
Volume
6
Number
4
Pages / Article-Number
204
Keywords
Sierra Leone; alcohol-based hand rub; compliance; hand hygiene; hand washing
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.
