TY - JOUR
T1 - Mejora del agua, el saneamiento y la higiene en centros sanitarios, Liberia
AU - Abrampah, Nana Mensah
AU - Montgomery, Maggie
AU - Baller, April
AU - Ndivo, Francis
AU - Gasasira, Alex
AU - Cooper, Catherine
AU - Frescas, Ruben
AU - Gordon, Bruce
AU - Syed, Shamsuzzoha Babar
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dehwehn Omarley Yeabah, Amos Gborie, Wataku Z Kortimai, Gayflor Jallah, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, Ministry of Health of Liberia; Quincy Trisoh Goll, World Health Organization, Liberia; Molla Godif, Ministry of Health, Ethiopia; Waltaji Terfa Kutane, World Health Organization, Ethiopia and Arabella Hayter, World Health Organization, Geneva.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, World Health Organization. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Problem The lack of proper water and sanitation infrastructures and poor hygiene practices in health-care facilities reduces facilities’ preparedness and response to disease outbreaks and decreases the communities’ trust in the health services provided. Approach To improve water and sanitation infrastructures and hygiene practices, the Liberian health ministry held multistakeholder meetings to develop a national water, sanitation and hygiene and environmental health package. A national train-the-trainer course was held for county environmental health technicians, which included infection prevention and control focal persons; the focal persons acted as change agents. Local setting In Liberia, only 45% of 701 surveyed health-care facilities had an improved water source in 2015, and only 27% of these health-care facilities had proper disposal for infectious waste. Relevant changes Local ownership, through engagement of local health workers, was introduced to ensure development and refinement of the package. In-county collaborations between health-care facilities, along with multisectoral collaboration, informed national level direction, which led to increased focus on water and sanitation infrastructures and uptake of hygiene practices to improve the overall quality of service delivery. Lessons learnt National level leadership was important to identify a vision and create an enabling environment for changing the perception of water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care provision. The involvement of health workers was central to address basic infrastructure and hygiene practices in health-care facilities and they also worked as stimulators for sustainable change. Further, developing a long-term implementation plan for national level initiatives is important to ensure sustainability.
AB - Problem The lack of proper water and sanitation infrastructures and poor hygiene practices in health-care facilities reduces facilities’ preparedness and response to disease outbreaks and decreases the communities’ trust in the health services provided. Approach To improve water and sanitation infrastructures and hygiene practices, the Liberian health ministry held multistakeholder meetings to develop a national water, sanitation and hygiene and environmental health package. A national train-the-trainer course was held for county environmental health technicians, which included infection prevention and control focal persons; the focal persons acted as change agents. Local setting In Liberia, only 45% of 701 surveyed health-care facilities had an improved water source in 2015, and only 27% of these health-care facilities had proper disposal for infectious waste. Relevant changes Local ownership, through engagement of local health workers, was introduced to ensure development and refinement of the package. In-county collaborations between health-care facilities, along with multisectoral collaboration, informed national level direction, which led to increased focus on water and sanitation infrastructures and uptake of hygiene practices to improve the overall quality of service delivery. Lessons learnt National level leadership was important to identify a vision and create an enabling environment for changing the perception of water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care provision. The involvement of health workers was central to address basic infrastructure and hygiene practices in health-care facilities and they also worked as stimulators for sustainable change. Further, developing a long-term implementation plan for national level initiatives is important to ensure sustainability.
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U2 - 10.2471/BLT.16.175802
DO - 10.2471/BLT.16.175802
M3 - Article
C2 - 28670017
AN - SCOPUS:85021844733
SN - 0042-9686
VL - 95
SP - 526
EP - 530
JO - Bulletin of the World Health Organization
JF - Bulletin of the World Health Organization
IS - 7
ER -