Infrastructure for water, sanitation, hygiene, cleaning, and waste management is essential for supporting safe environmental conditions in healthcare facilities. Routine maintenance is important for preventing infrastructure breakdowns, but few studies have examined healthcare facility maintenance practices. This study documented environmental maintenance tasks in healthcare facilities in Niger, described bottlenecks to maintenance, and assessed strategies for coping with breakdowns. At 34 rural healthcare facilities in Niger, we conducted quantitative surveys to assess frequency of maintenance tasks and held qualitative interviews with healthcare facility staff to understand bottlenecks to maintenance. On at least a monthly basis, 4% of healthcare facilities inspected their water source and pump for the purpose of detecting and replacing worn parts, 15% inspected water taps and basins, and 29% inspected incinerators. Healthcare facility staff described barriers to accessing government funds for maintenance. Instead, they paid out of their own salaries or raised funds through appeals to community members or revenue generation initiatives. Other bottlenecks included ill-defined management responsibilities and difficulty of finding skilled technicians for maintenance. Findings highlight opportunities to support healthcare facilities in budgeting, advocacy, and training skilled technicians. Initiatives to install infrastructure at healthcare facilities will be more sustainable if they are accompanied by postconstruction planning, training, and funding for maintenance.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11325333 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/11786302241271554 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
A blended learning approach for capacity strengthening to improve the quality of integrated HIV, TB, and malaria services during antenatal and postnatal care in LMICs: a feasibility study.
BMC Med Educ
January 2025
Department of International Public Health, Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembrooke Place, L3, 5QA, Liverpool, UK.
Background: The blended learning (BL) approach to training health care professionals is increasingly adopted in many countries because of high costs and disruption to service delivery in the light of severe human resource shortage in low resource settings. The Covid-19 pandemic increased the urgency to identify alternatives to traditional face-to-face (f2f) education approach. A four-day f2f antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC) continuous professional development course (CPD) was repackaged into a 3-part BL course; (1) self-directed learning (16 h) (2) facilitated virtual sessions (2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMen's views on factors contributing to their poor health-seeking behaviour in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Venda, University Rd, Thohoyandou, South Africa.
Background: The reasons for men not to seek healthcare seem similar across the world. They avoid going for regular medical check-ups, and preventive care and often disregard symptoms or delay seeking medical attention when sick, in pain, or even when their lives are in danger.
Methods: This study sought to explore the views of men on factors contributing to poor health-seeking behavior among men in Mopani, Vhembe, and Capricorn district municipalities in Limpopo Province.
Impact of declared wildfire disasters on survival of lung cancer patients undergoing radiation.
Cancer Causes Control
January 2025
Surveillance and Health Equity Science, American Cancer Society, Kennesaw, GA, USA.
Purpose: Oncological treatments, such as radiotherapy, which requires consistent electricity, the presence of specialized clinical teams, and daily patient access to treatment facilities, are frequently disrupted by extreme weather events, posing several health hazards to patients. This study explores the association between declared wildfire disasters during radiotherapy and overall survival among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: The study population consisted of 202,935 adults with inoperable Stage III NSCLC, who initiated radiotherapy from 2004 through 2019.
Impact of urgent care centers on emergency department visits in Al Madina Al Munawara: A pre-post study.
Saudi Med J
January 2025
From the Model of Care (AlJohani, Al-Hazmi, Al-saedi, Al-Ahmadi), and from Healthcare Strategy Administration (Alshammary),Madinah Health Cluster, Al Madina Al Munawara, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of UCCs on reducing non-urgent Emergency Department (ED) visits and improving patient flow, focusing on metrics such as door-to-doctor time, doctor-to-decision time, and overall patient disposition.
Methods: This observational cohort pre-post study analyzed data from 198,050 ED visits to King Fahad Hospital, Al Madina Al Munawara between June 2021 and May 2023 and compared visit patterns before and after UCC implementation.
Results: Post-UCC implementation, the average door-to-doctor time decreased but was not statistically significant.
The Impact of implementing a Strategy on the Rate reduction of Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) in National healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia.
Am J Infect Control
January 2025
General Directorate of infection Prevention and control. Electronic address:
Background: To address catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in adult medical surgical (M/S) intensive care units ICUs, a strategy known as CAUTI out of nation (CAUTIoN) was implemented in MOH (Ministry of Health) facilities in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of a national strategy, in healthcare facilities and evaluate the outcome of each strategy's components and to compare the pre and post intervention rates of CAUTI.
Methods: It was a retrospective, to assess changes in CAUTI rates after the implementation of strategy.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!