Clean water, rigorous hygiene key to coping with anti-microbial resistance
The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance has warned that more than one million people have died since mid-2014 of such infections, and that up to 10 million people may die every year from resistant infections by 2050.
The problem has been exacerbated by widespread use of antibiotics, particularly in places where hospital patients frequently contract infections spread by poor sanitation and hygiene practices and are given antibiotics in prevention.
Some 38% of healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries, and 42% in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have access to water, making good hygiene almost impossible.
WaterAid America Director of Policy and Advocacy Lisa Schechtman said, "This frightening scenario of a world where we could be thrown back into the Victorian era of death from simple infection highlights the incredible importance of having clean water, good sanitation and rigorous hygiene practices in health centres around the world. Preventing infection is the best way of saving lives. And the best way to prevent infection is to ensure that healthcare centres have continuous access to clean water, to good functioning sanitation including toilets that are not backed up spreading disease, and to ensure medical personnel, from clinic directors to cleaners, have both the knowledge and ability to practice proper handwashing with soap and cleaning techniques."
High rates of infection and sepsis are deadly to new mothers and newborns. One in five newborn deaths is from infection or sepsis, which can often be prevented with good hygiene and clean water.
The 2015 World Health Organisation landscape survey of healthcare facilities in low- and middle- income countries also found that 35% don't have handwashing facilities and 19% don't have any functioning toilets. Many facilities with some access to water also face disruptions in supply and issues of quality.
A WHO-Unicef Global Action Plan aims to address this situation; however it will need to be made a political priority by national governments and donors to achieve access to water, sanitation and good hygiene in all healthcare facilities.
WaterAid's four-year campaign Healthy Start is designed to highlight the critical importance of these basic services for maternal, newborn and child health.
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