ETHIOPIA – The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and World Health Organization (WHO) agree to a collaborative deal that will see both parties work towards the implementation of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC).

The ongoing efforts to improve infection prevention and control practices in Ethiopia aim to eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) among patients and healthcare workers which affects all aspects of health system performance.

WHO highlights that healthcare-associated infections can cause serious illnesses requiring treatment with expensive, broad-spectrum drugs, prolonged stays in health care facilities, long-term disability and even death besides the high additional financial burden on the families.

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a practical, evidence-based approach which prevents patients and health workers from being harmed by avoidable infection and as a result of antimicrobial resistance.

Inexpensive IPC strategic interventions include capacity building through training of health workers on IPC avail evidence-based guidelines, establishing an IPC committee and assigning IPC focal, provision of IPC supplies and supportive supervision and mentorship for health facilities.

WHO Ethiopia Country Office announced that an infection prevention team has been deployed to the Benishangul Gumuz Region to provide onsite and remote technical support to multiple healthcare facilities in the region.

According to WHO Ethiopia Country Office, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Officer at WHO Ethiopia Hailu Sabagadis assesses and monitors the healthcare facilities’ IPC capabilities and proper implementation of COVID-19 and other infection prevention activities.

Proper IPC practices are the cornerstone of high-quality health care, are cross-cutting and also an essential component of patient safety,” the World Health Organization said in a press statement.

The infection prevention team led by Hailu Sabagadis provides technical guidance, orientation and corrective actions to the facilities in the Benishangul Gumuz Region to ensure the health care workers’ adherence to the recommended IPC practices after a thorough evaluation and critical assessment.

WHO Ethiopia COVID-19 Incident Manager Dr Martins Chibueze outlined that the assessment serves as a supporting mechanism for global health priorities to achieve universal health coverage, noting that it is a tool for ensuring the health and well-being of health workers and the people they serve.

Furthermore, WHO designed an IPC scorecard as a tool to help healthcare facilities periodically assess their capacity of mitigating the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and other healthcare-associated life-threatening infections.

WHO Ethiopia has partnered with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and Regional Health Bureaus to continue promoting the IPC Scorecard as an effective IPC performance monitoring tool and scaling up its utilization in all healthcare facilities.

Liked this article? Sign up to receive our regular email newsletters, focused on Africa and World’s healthcare industry, directly into your inbox. SUBSCRIBE HERE