Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done!

Abstract

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures are critical to the reduction in healthcare-associated infections, especially during pandemics, such as that of COVID-19. We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study in August 2021 at Connaught Hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital and Ola During Children’s Hospital located in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We used the World Health Organization’s Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework Tool to assess the level of IPC compliance at these healthcare facilities. The overall IPC compliance score at Connaught Hospital was 323.5 of 800 points, 313.5 of 800 at Ola During Children’s Hospital, 281 of 800 at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, implying a ‘Basic’ IPC compliance grade. These facilities had an IPC program, IPC committees and dedicated IPC focal persons. However, there were several challenges, including access to safe and clean water and insufficient quantities of face masks, examination gloves and aprons. Furthermore, there was no dedicated budget or no healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance, and monitoring/audit of IPC practices were weak. These findings are of concern during the COVID-19 era, and there is an urgent need for both financial and technical support to address the gaps and challenges identified.

Evaluating infection prevention and control structure of Indonesian COVID-19 referral hospitals

“…Compared to other studies conducted in non–high-income economic countries, an investigation in India stated that 13% of the hospitals had basic IPC practices, 28% had intermediate and 59% had advanced IPC practices. In Sierra Leone and Pakistan, all hospitals had an inadequate and basic level of IPC (Kamara et al 2022 ; Savul et al 2020 ). It was also discovered that IPC scores were lower in hospitals in low-income and low-middle-income countries (Savul et al 2020 ; Tomczyk et al 2022 ).…”

“…Several IPC measurement-related studies were conducted prior to the pandemic (Johannes et al 2019 ; Savul et al 2020 ; Tomczyk et al 2020 ). As the current COVID-19 pandemic continues to emphasise the significance of IPC and its sound establishment in healthcare facilities, a number of studies have been conducted to measure IPCAF during the pandemic (Harun et al 2022 ; Jeong et al 2022 ; Kamara et al 2022 ). Unfortunately, the topic remains understudied in Indonesia, and only few studies measuring IPCAF during the pandemic have been identified (Supriadi et al 2023 ).…”

Application of integrated equipment quality management mode of operating room and supply room in prevention and control of nosocomial infection

“…Surgical instruments and equipment, as the instruments that directly contact the patient's wound and lesion during the surgical rescue or treatment, determine the quality of the surgical effect. Therefore, improving the management level of the supply room and improving the cleaning and sterilization effect of operating room instruments are important links to prevent nosocomial infections [28][29][30]. Therefore, in this work, 200 surgical instruments and 200 surgical instrument kits in the supply room of our hospital from May 2020 to May 2022 were selected as research samples.…”

Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on front-line healthcare workers in Sierra Leone: an explorative qualitative study

“…This study was conducted in five out of the eight designated COVID-19 treatment centres in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone and the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak. 29 During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Freetown was also one of the epicentres of the outbreak and recorded the highest prevalence (39%) of confirmed cases across the country. 30 …”