Impacts and Lessons Learnt From Local Production of WHO-Recommended Alcohol Based Hand Rub During Covid-19 Pandemic in Uganda

Abstract

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health and other partners have promoted hand washing and hand rubbing using ABHS as one of the key preventive measures against person-to-person spread of the Covid-19 virus. The people of Uganda have greatly heeded to these messages and as a result, the demand for ABHS has increased because of high consumption rates.Methods: A district multi modal design was established in 2019 in Kabarole and Kasese districts in Western Uganda Part of the strategy was to set up an ABHS production units. The prevailing COVID-19 outbreak has instigated set up at centrally located Kasangati HCIV. We analysed the demand and production of ABHS produced before and during the COVID-19 outbreak.Objective: To establish the impacts and lessons from local Production of WHO-recommended alcohol based hand rub during Covid-19 PandemicResults: 2060 litres were produced in Fort Portal in March 2020 around the time Uganda registered her first case of COVID-19 compared to monthly average production of 141 litres before the outbreak. In Kasese around 3020 litres were produced compared to the average 1500litres while 2000 litres produced in Kasangati HCIV a newly set production unit and a total of 8 people trained on Local production of ABHS.Conclusion; With high demand for ABHS during this pandemic, prices for commercial hand sanitizers have escalated, therefore, there is need to roll out local production of ABHS in other parts of the country since its saves more than 45% of the costs compared to commercial Hand Sanitizer. The production units should be embedded in Regional Referral Hospitals or IPC guidelines to major health facilities for the benefit of healthcare workers and patients who are at risk of the pandemic.