Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2023 Nov 23;23(1):824.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-023-08830-8.

Analysing the implementation of infection prevention and control measures in health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the African Region

Landry Kabego  1 , Thierno Balde  2 , Deborah Barasa  2 , Babacar Ndoye  2 , Okou-Bisso Hilde  2 , Tendai Makamure  2 , Guy Ohirweoluhya Mulumeoderwa  2 , Trevor Kanyowa  2 , Rashidatu Fouad Kamara  2 , Boiro Hamadou  2 , Opeayo Ogundiran  2 , Joseph Okeibunor  2 , George Williams  2 , Jayne Byakika Tusiime  2 , Phionah Lynn Atuhebwe  2 , Boniface Oyugi  2 , Elande-Taty Mawanda  2 , Andry Razakamanantsoa  2 , Fiona Braka  2 , Dick Chamla  2 , Abdou Salam Gueye  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Analysing the implementation of infection prevention and control measures in health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the African Region

Landry Kabego et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: The declaration of SARS-CoV-2 as a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020 prompted the need to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) capacities within health care facilities (HCF). IPC guidelines, with standard and transmission-based precautions to be put in place to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 at these HCFs were developed. Based on these IPC guidelines, a rapid assessment scorecard tool, with 14 components, to enhance assessment and improvement of IPC measures at HCFs was developed. This study assessed the level of implementation of the IPC measures in HCFs across the African Region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: An observational study was conducted from April 2020 to November 2022 in 17 countries in the African Region to monitor the progress made in implementing IPC standard and transmission-based precautions in primary-, secondary- and tertiary-level HCFs. A total of 5168 primary, secondary and tertiary HCFs were assessed. The HCFs were assessed and scored each component of the tool. Statistical analyses were done using R (version 4.2.0).

Results: A total of 11 564 assessments were conducted in 5153 HCFs, giving an average of 2.2 assessments per HCF. The baseline median score for the facility assessments was 60.2%. Tertiary HCFs and those dedicated to COVID-19 patients had the highest IPC scores. Tertiary-level HCFs had a median score of 70%, secondary-level HCFs 62.3% and primary-level HCFs 56.8%. HCFs dedicated to COVID-19 patients had the highest scores, with a median of 68.2%, followed by the mixed facilities that attended to both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, with 64.84%. On the components, there was a strong correlation between high IPC assessment scores and the presence of IPC focal points in HCFs, the availability of IPC guidelines in HCFs and HCFs that had all their health workers trained in basic IPC.

Conclusion: In conclusion, a functional IPC programme with a dedicated focal person is a prerequisite for implementing improved IPC measures at the HCF level. In the absence of an epidemic, the general IPC standards in HCFs are low, as evidenced by the low scores in the non-COVID-19 treatment centres.

Keywords: Health care facilities; Health care- associated infections; Health workers; Infection prevention and control.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Median IPC scores of health care facilities according to the type of care provided
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Median IPC scores by level of health care facilities in the health system
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, Wang X, Zhou L, Tong Y, et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(13):1199–1207. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001316. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wrapp D, Wang N, Corbett KS, Goldsmith JA, Hsieh CL, Abiona O, et al. Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation. Science. 2020;367(6483):1260–1263. doi: 10.1126/science.abb2507. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yesudhas D, Srivastava A, Gromiha MM. COVID-19 outbreak: history, mechanism, transmission, structural studies and therapeutics. Infection. 2021;49(2):199–213. doi: 10.1007/s15010-020-01516-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chan JFW, Yuan S, Kok KH, To KKW, Chu H, Yang J, et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet Lond Engl. 2020;395(10223):514–523. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30154-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Geneva. 2022. Available from: https://covid19.who.int. [Cited 2022 Nov 17].

Publication types