Background: Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide, and it puts a heavy burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, it is very important to detect and evaluate hypertension and related cardiovascular events to enable early prevention, detection, and management. Hypertension can be detected in a timely manner with cardiac signals, such as through an electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) , which can be observed via wearable sensors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Resist Infect Control
November 2024
In recent years, there has been increased attention on the importance of healthcare environmental cleaning, including the need to professionalize and support the workforce responsible for performing cleaning. Global agendas and strategies on infection prevention and control (IPC) and water, sanitation and hygiene highlight the need for improvements to this sector, particularly in resource-limited healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries. Correspondingly, several resources have been developed that aim to (1) improve professional training of cleaners and (2) improve implementation of best practices in resource-limited settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Resist Infect Control
September 2024
Environmental cleaning is essential to patient and health worker safety, yet it is a substantially neglected area in terms of knowledge, practice, and capacity-building, especially in resource-limited settings. Public health advocacy, research and investment are urgently needed to develop and implement cost-effective interventions to improve environmental cleanliness and, thus, overall healthcare quality and safety. We outline here the CLEAN Group Consensus exercise yielding twelve urgent research questions, grouped into four thematic areas: standards, system strengthening, behaviour change, and innovation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Health workers were at higher risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic due to occupational risk factors. This study aimed to characterize these risk factors as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) Unity Studies initiative.
Methods: This global, multi-centre, nested, case-control study was conducted in 121 healthcare facilities in 21 countries.
Background: Due to the rising incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, especially in Low-Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), post-partum infections represent a significant treatment challenge.
Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature from January 2005 to February 2023 to quantify the frequency of maternal post-partum infections due to MDR pathogens in LMICs, focusing on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and/or extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales.
Secondary Objectives: description of antimicrobials' prescriptions.