Risk Factors and Interventions Against Nosocomial Infections Across Multiple African Countries: A Systematic Review

Renee Reid, Connor Sheehy & Leila Jabbour^*

Department pf Medicine, Franklin Pierce University, 40 University Drive, USA

Leila Jabbour, Department pf Medicine, Franklin Pierce University, 40 University Drive, USA.

Keywords: Nosocomial Infection; Pathogens; HAIs; Phylogenetics; Bacteremia

Abstract

Background
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) are a concern globally, but are of particular importance in developing countries with less funding and knowledge on the pathology of infection. HAIs pose a serious health risk and economic burden to hospitals in areas such as Africa.
Aim
To determine risk factors and prevention methods for HAIs in Africa to help hospitals moving forward.
Methods
Electronic databases were investigated for relevant articles. Studies published post 2000 regarding HAI risk factors or interventions were eligible for data analysis and organized accordingly.
Major Findings
Eleven risk factor articles and five intervention articles were deemed eligible and were used in this study. Significant risk factors proved to be surgery, department patient was admitted to, poor hand hygiene, and antibiotic use. The World Health Organization’s hand hygiene protocol proved to be cost effective and accessible in African hospitals. Educational intervention was also effective in improving the quality of care health care practitioners gave, and decreased the number of HAIs.
Conclusion
There is an obvious lack of new interventions and the ones found focused on similar topics of hand hygiene. More creative interventions need to be designed and implemented to fit the explanatory models African healthcare providers use in their work lives.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).