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URC/CHS Projects
Health & Population
Improving Medical Injection Safety in Namibia Project
Client: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
As prime contractor for this program, URC is collaborating with the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) and other stakeholders to adapt and develop national safe injection and safe sharps waste management standards. The project, originally granted for 11 months under the Global Health Bureau Technical Assistance Support Contract 2 (TASC2), was extended and is now funded through September 2009 by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The goals of the PEPFAR initiative are to reach two million people with anti-retroviral therapy (ART), prevent seven million infections, and provide care and support for ten million HIV-infected individuals, orphans, and vulnerable children.
Under the Improving Medical Injection Safety in Namibia Project, the URC team is working to support the goals of the PEPFAR initiative by reducing the medical transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogens among patients and providers during the delivery of medical injections and through the safe disposal of medical waste. URC is focusing on specific key areas including: infection prevention and control policy and practice, skills development, advocacy, behavior change, logistics, and waste management.
The URC project team is assisting the MoHSS to strengthen the capacity of district and facility-based managers to promote safe injection practices. Technical support is provided to improve both the content of care (injection procedures) and the process of care (how the procedures are carried out). To improve content of care, the project team is working to strengthen compliance with evidence-based guidelines by establishing a framework to communicate the guidelines/protocols, providing training, and facilitating supervision. URC is strengthening the process of care by increasing provider understanding of the health care system, promoting safer injection practices, and by reorganizing medical waste disposal practices. The interventions seek to to prevent the inadvertent spread of HIV and other blood borne pathogens among health workers and patients by decreasing needle stick injuries. URC is working with the MoHSS to scale up these activities to a national level.
URC Services
Since USAID awarded the contract in February 2004, the URC project team has been working closely with its partners to implement the following components of the Improving Medical Injection Safety Project:
- Conduct a rapid systems analysis to identify gaps and opportunities for improving injection practices among public and private providers;
- Identify system-related issues that affect the use and disposal of injection equipment;
- Develop and implement a behavior change program to influence injection seeking behavior among patients and care givers;
- Use the collaborative methodology to link multiple intervention sites and rapidly bring to scale safe injection practices in the country;
- Provide support to Namibian health facilities participating in the program through the purchase of safe injection equipment;
- Conduct operations research to determine efficacy and cost-effectiveness of various injection equipment;
- Monitor improvements in safe injection practices; and
- Disseminate findings widely through local and international perspectives.
Partners
- Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services
- World Health Organization
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus, Management Sciences for Health
- US Agency for International Development
- United Nations Children’s Fund
- Family Health International
- Becton, Dickinson and Co.
- University of Namibia
- Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Geographic Focus
The project is based in Windhoek and began in five pilot regions/districts: Windhoek (Khomas region), Oshakati (Oshana region), Keetmanshoop (Karas region), Gobabis (Omaheke region), and Usakos (Erongo region). As of 2007, the project has expanded to cover all thirteen districts of Namibia, achieving national scale up.
For more information on the Namibia Improving Medical Injection Safety Project contact:
Simon Hiltebeitel
Project Coordinator
shiltebeitel@urc-chs.com
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