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. 2021 Nov 29;6(4):204.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed6040204.

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?

Sulaiman Lakoh  1   2 , Emmanuel Firima  3   4   5 , Christine Ellen Elleanor Williams  2 , Sarah K Conteh  2 , Mohamed Boie Jalloh  1   6 , Mohamed Gbeshay Sheku  2 , Olukemi Adekanmbi  7   8 , Stephen Sevalie  1   6 , Sylvia Adama Kamara  6 , Mohamed Akmed Salim Kamara  6 , Umu Barrie  9 , Gladys Nanilla Kamara  6 , Le Yi  10 , Xuejun Guo  10 , Chukwuemeka Haffner  2 , Matilda N Kamara  1 , Darlinda F Jiba  2 , Enanga Sonia Namanaga  2 , Anna Maruta  11 , Christiana Kallon  2 , Joseph Sam Kanu  1   2 , Gibrilla F Deen  1   2 , Mohamed Samai  1   2 , Joseph Chukwudi Okeibunor  12 , James B W Russell  1   2
Affiliations

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?

Sulaiman Lakoh et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

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.

Keywords: Sierra Leone; alcohol-based hand rub; compliance; hand hygiene; hand washing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hand hygiene facilities in the units/wards/departments of two hospitals in Sierra Leone.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hand hygiene levels of the two hospitals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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