{"id":3334,"date":"2022-09-05T14:12:18","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T14:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afiyafrica.com\/?p=3334"},"modified":"2022-09-05T14:12:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T14:12:18","slug":"half-of-health-care-facilities-globally-lack-basic-hygiene-services-who-unicef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afiyafrica.com\/index.php\/en\/news\/half-of-health-care-facilities-globally-lack-basic-hygiene-services-who-unicef\/","title":{"rendered":"Half of health care facilities globally lack basic hygiene services \u2013 WHO, UNICEF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Newly established global estimate on hygiene reveals the risk of disease spread and infections to patients and health care providers<\/h2>\n
Half of health care facilities worldwide lack basic hygiene services with water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub where patients receive care and at toilets in these facilities, according to the latest Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report\u00a0<\/a>by WHO and UNICEF. Around 3.85 billion people use these facilities, putting them at greater risk of infection, including 688 million people who receive care at facilities with no hygiene services at all.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cHygiene facilities and practices in health care settings are non-negotiable. Their improvement is essential to pandemic recovery, prevention and preparedness. Hygiene in health care facilities cannot be secured without increasing investments in basic measures, which include safe water, clean toilets, and safely managed health care waste,\u201d said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. \u201cI encourage Member States to step up their efforts to implement their 2019 World Health Assembly commitment to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities, and to monitor these efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest report, \u201cProgress on WASH in health care facilities 2000\u20132021: special focus on WASH and infection prevention and control<\/a>\u201d, has for the first time established this global baseline on hygiene services \u2013 which assessed access at points of care as well as toilets \u2013 as more countries than ever report on critical elements of WASH services in their hospitals and other health centres. For hygiene, data are now available for 40 countries, representing 35% of the world\u2019s population, up from 21 countries in 2020 and 14 in 2019.<\/p>\n

The newly established global estimate reveals a clearer and more alarming picture of the state of hygiene in health care facilities. Though 68% of health care facilities had hygiene facilities at points of care, and 65% had handwashing facilities with water and soap at toilets, only 51% had both and therefore met the criteria for basic hygiene services. Furthermore, 1 in 11 (9%) of health care facilities globally have neither.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf health care providers don\u2019t have access to a hygiene service, patients don\u2019t have a health care facility,\u201d said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF Director of WASH and Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED). \u201cHospitals and clinics without safe water and basic hygiene and sanitation services are a potential death trap for pregnant mothers, newborns, and children. Every year, around 670 000 newborns lose their lives to sepsis. This is a travesty \u2013 even more so as their deaths are preventable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0notes that contaminated hands and environments play a significant role in pathogen transmission in health care facilities and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Interventions to increase access to handwashing with water and soap and environmental cleaning form the cornerstone of infection prevention and control programmes and are crucial to providing quality care, particularly for safe childbirth.<\/p>\n

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Coverage of WASH facilities is still uneven across different regions and income groupings:<\/p>\n