Strategies for safe injections.

ABSTRACT

PIP: This article reviews a WHO approach aimed to achieve injection safety that encompasses all elements from patients' expectations and doctors' prescribing habits to waste disposal. Additionally, the paper describes its implications for two injection technologies: sterilizable and disposable. It argues that focusing on any single technology diverts attention from the more fundamental need for health services to develop their own comprehensive strategies for safe injections. National health authorities will only be able to ensure that injections are administered safely if they take an approach that encompasses the whole system and choose injection that fit their circumstances. When national authorities seek to identify the strategy most suited to their needs, they must take account of all three elements: behavior, management, and finance.