Improving Wound Dressing Techniques and Infection Control through Support from International Non-Governmental Organizations in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

The script is a first-hand report and reviews of activities that ensures high and standard quality wound care in resource limited health facility by intervention from medical projects of International Non-Governmental such as ICRC (International committee of red cross). The acquired knowledge and hand-on skills acquired by health personnel were from Technical Workshops provided through the support and partnership of International Organizations such as ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) in insurgency prone regions of a Developing Country. The workshop highlights low quality and deficit in medical practices and the changes that can address deficit in skills required to perform standard wound dressing, control of cross infection and or reduction in hospital acquired nosocomial infections. The training  including updates and reintroduction of  new materials and solutions such as Hexanios and Surfanios  ,as well assert correct  method or techniques in wound dressing, proper techniques in vaginal examinations during  manual intrapartum  monitoring , handling of swabs and instruments used to ensure clean procedure and practice. Such deficits were noticeable due to long distance of this centers to main cities and town which usually host symposium, workshops and trainings, and also low morale of worker to continuous academic activities, non-evaluation of practice in remote health centres, allocation of the duties or clinical procedure to untrained health assistants and shortfall of adequate doctors and nursing staff as well as loss of interest of doctors to supervisory roles. These extrinsic factors pose as  challenges in good wound healing  in many sub-Saharan African countries and most often promotes, consequently antibiotic resistant microbes ,poor wound healing and also long stay in hospitals, increased morbidities and mortalities, loss of confidence in orthodox medicine, increased reliance to unsafe tradomedical care and additional economic burden to patients. The Effects of organized workshops on attitude and practice of untrained health and qualified health worker were discussed in this article and observable post-training changes to unskilled or non-qualified health assistants working in mainstream of health care services in remote care setting were reported. The results from post training shows that Health mission of international Non-Governmental Organization are invaluable to effect required changes in improving  quality of  health care services in the areas of sterile wound dressing and medical instrumentation handling in sub-Saharan Africa as well as regions prone to insurgency or militancy with trained or skilled health workers and  resources  are scarce.