EGYPT – The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Egypt has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to conduct a nationwide injection safety project in a bid to assess and improve injection safety practices among healthcare providers in Egypt.
The main goal of the project is to promote the safe use of injections which is essential in avoiding the transmission of life-threatening infections and protecting patients, health care workers and the community from avoidable risks.
According to WHO, a safe injection does not harm the recipient, does not expose the provider to risk and does not result in waste that is dangerous for others. To achieve this, each injection needs to be administered with a new syringe and needle and properly disposed after use.
WHO Egypt has conducted assessments of injection safety practices among health care workers in public hospitals in 8 governorates across Egypt particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic during which the number of injections being administered every year have significantly increased in Egypt and beyond.
Safe injection practices are intended to prevent transmission of infectious diseases between one patient and another, or between a patient and dental health care personnel (DHCP) during preparation and injection of medications.
Earlier, WHO held an orientation workshop for surveyors from the Hepatitis Control and Infection Prevention and Infection Prevention and Control Central Unit at the Ministry of Health and Population prior to the nationwide assessment to discuss the implementation process of the project.
The orientation workshop was a unique opportunity for the World Health Organization to conduct pilot testing of the WHO-developed web-based application for an auditing reporting system that will facilitate data entry and retrieval.
The injection safety project in Egypt is part of the WHO global campaign on injection safety that recognizes staff training as a core principle since bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through unsafe injection practices.
Subsequently, an expert team from the WHO Country Office in Egypt will be supervising a capacity-building training programme that is scheduled to take place in July in order to address any shortcomings identified during the assessment visits.
The project in Egypt will further build on WHO ‘s progress in championing for knowledge and practice on injection safety among primary health care workers in the area of infection prevention and control, occupational health and laboratories.
In addition, WHO has been collaborating with relevant stakeholders such as senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Population, academia and policy-makers to support the implementation of safe injection practices and guide the formulation of national policies.
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