Have Hand Hygiene Practices in Two Tertiary Care Hospitals, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Improved in 2023 following Operational Research in 2021?

In 2021, an operational research study in two tertiary hospitals in Freetown showed poor hand hygiene compliance. Recommended actions were taken to improve the situation. Between February-April 2023, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the same two hospitals using the World Health Organization hand hygiene tool to assess and compare hand hygiene compliance with that observed between June-August 2021. In Connaught hospital, overall hand hygiene compliance improved from 51% to 60% (p < 0.001), and this applied to both handwash actions with soap and water and alcohol-based hand rub. Significant improvements were found in all hospital departments and amongst all healthcare worker cadres. In 34 Military Hospital (34MH), overall hand hygiene compliance decreased from 40% to 32% (p < 0.001), with significant decreases observed in all departments and amongst nurses and nursing students. The improvements in Connaught Hospital were probably because of more hand hygiene reminders, better handwash infrastructure and more frequent supervision assessments, compared with 34MH where interventions were less well applied, possibly due to the extensive hospital reconstruction at the time. In conclusion, recommendations from operational research in 2021 contributed towards the improved distribution of hand hygiene reminders, better handwash infrastructure and frequent supervision assessments, which possibly led to improved hand hygiene compliance in one of the two hospitals. These actions need to be strengthened, scaled-up and guided by ongoing operational research to promote good hand hygiene practices elsewhere in the country.

Improvement in the Surveillance System for Livestock Diseases and Antimicrobial Use Following Operational Research Studies in Sierra Leone January-March 2023.

In Sierra Leone, two operational research (OR) studies in 2019 and 2021 showed deficiencies in the data being captured by the Integrated Animal Disease Surveillance and Reporting (IADSR) system. This third OR study was conducted in 2023 to assess whether the second OR study's results and recommendations were disseminated with the key stakeholders, the uptake of the recommendations, improvements in data capture in the IADSR system, and to describe the data on livestock disease and antimicrobial use. In 2022, on seven occasions, the authors of the second OR study disseminated the study's findings. Of the four recommendations, the one on improving laboratory infrastructure for confirmation of animal disease was not implemented. The district animal health weekly surveillance reports received through the IADSR system were sustained at 88% between the second (2021) and third (2023) studies. In both studies, the proportion of sick animals receiving antibiotics (25%) remained the same, but the use of "critically important antimicrobials for veterinary use" declined from 77% (in 2021) to 69% (in 2023). The IADSR system has improved considerably in providing information on animal health and antibiotic use, and sequential OR studies have played a key role in its improvement.