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U.S. supports prevent infections in 100 Zimbabwe's health care facilities
US Embassy
June 14, 2013

The United States, through the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), is providing support to Zimbabwe to reduce the transmission of diseases among health workers. In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) helped to develop policy guidelines and procure equipment that will keep Zimbabwean health workers safe from infection on the job. On Friday, June 7, the Ministry launched the National Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines, which will strengthen infection control practices in health care facilities to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases among patients and health workers.

“We are very pleased to support the development and launch of these guidelines,” said Peter Kilmarx, Country Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC-Zimbabwe) during the launch. “These guidelines are intended to provide safe, high-quality care to patients and to prevent them, their families, visitors, and health care workers from acquiring and/or transmitting infections in the care environments.”

The guidelines are part of a five-year Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Project (ZIPCOP) meant to strengthen facility-based Infection Prevention Control programmes, including post exposure prophylaxis, in 100 targeted health facilities. In 2012, CDC-Zimbabwe provided $4 million to various activities, including developing curriculum for health care worker training and renovating three health centers.

Among the health centers to benefit is Chitungwiza Hospital, about 30 miles south of Harare, which is the first public health facility to achieve ISO 9001:2000 quality certification. The hospital leadership has embraced infection prevention and control practices as an important part of improving the quality of patient care.

“It was truly heartwarming to walk around the hospital and see the windows being kept open to reduce the risk of TB transmission, hand washing sinks installed in the patient care areas, and sharps containers being used to discard needles after use,” noted Kilmarx, who recently toured the hospital.

In addition to monitoring and evaluation tools, ZIPCOP has also procured personal protective equipment, including 22,000 protective aprons, 2,000 N95 respirators, and 5,000 surgical masks with protective visors for selected health facilities nationwide.

“These are not intended to provide all personal protective equipment (PPE) needs over the long term, but to provide guidance and initial support for policy development, training, and practice in PPE use,” said Kilmarx.

At the launch of the guidelines, government officials narrated the challenges that health centers faced in ensuring that both health workers and patients work in a safe environment.

“The prevalence of health sector-associated infections varies between 5.7% to 19.1% in low-middle income countries like ours,” said Gerald Gwinji, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. He noted that the absence of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) guidelines had put patients at risk of hospital-acquired infections, a situation his ministry is working to remedy.

Like their counterparts elsewhere, Zimbabwean health care workers are at risk for infection due to injury from contaminated needles. The annual global count includes an estimated 16,000 cases of hepatitis C, 66,000 cases of hepatitis B, and 1,000 cases of HIV infection. Other infections transmitted in health care settings range from influenza to the Ebola virus. According to studies, the annual risk of TB infection in health care workers ranges from 4% to 14%.

The project technical advisor, Professor Val Robertson, said the role of ZIPCOP was to ensure that health practitioners uphold and adhere to the guidelines. “The role of the ZIPCOP after this launch will be to ensure that these guidelines are not stuck in a drawer by health practitioners but are used as a resource and a training tool.”

Through CDC-Zimbabwe and other U.S. Embassy agencies in Harare, PEPFAR has pledged $95 million dollars towards Zimbabwe’s response to HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe in 2013.

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