1. Infectious Diseases and Hygiene - Dr Nelson Herbert
Australian South Asian Healthcare Association (ASHA)
Maternal Health Education Program

2. Infectious Diseases Infectious Diseases are everywhere: Homes Schools
Shops
Buses
Hospitals
Many more…

3. Why are they important?
Infections can spread easily between people, and those of us that are weaker can get more sick easily
Infections can be passed from mother to baby even before they are born
If a mother gets sick, this can effect the nutrition of their baby

4. Health Care Associated Infections
Major problem for patient safety
Must be the first priority for making healthcare safer
Impacts:
Longer hospital stays
Long term disability
Increased antibiotic resistance
Increases costs of care
Can increase the rate of deaths in hospital

5. Risks for acquiring an infection
Multiple factors:
The infectious agent (the bug/germ)
E.g. virulence, survival and resistance
The host (humans or animals)
E.g. old age, low birth weight, other diseases, immunosuppressed, malnutrition
The environment (hospital or other location)
E.g. Intensive Care, longer hospital admission, procedures and internal devices, antimicrobials

6. How many infections? In developed countries (like Australia)
Can affect 5-15% of hospitalised patients
In developing countries (like Cambodia)
Can be 15-20% of patients, but is hard to measure
Poor access to radiology or pathology
Poor medical record keeping
Poor infection control measure

7. Developing country difficulties
Low staff
Poor hygiene and sanitation
Lack or shortage of basic equipment
Poor structures
Overcrowding
Difficult to gain financial resources
All of these can increase the burden of infections

8. Health care workers at risk
Health care workers are also at risk of infection
They can spread infection amongst staff and patients
Transmission can be from large droplets, direct contact with patients or infectious materials, and inadequate infection control

9. Health care infection control
Proper hygiene for infection control
The most common transmission is via health care workers hands
Contamination of hands or gloves can happen by simply by touching intact skin
Micro-organisms can also survive on bedding, curtains, gowns, bedside furniture and many more items

10. Hand hygiene is important
Micro-organisms can survive on hands for between 2-60 minutes
More and more bugs can accumulate without proper hand hygiene
Without proper hand washings or cleaning, outbreaks of diseases can occur quickly
Gloves are important, but need to be used properly to prevent transmission

11. Hand Hygiene is important
Compliance with proper hand hygiene is variable between different countries
There are many risk factors that decrease compliance with hand hygiene
It is important to try and clean your hands as often as required
Many strategies can be used to increase the use of good hand hygiene

12. The 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene
Before touching a patient
To protect from germs on your hands
Before clean/aseptic procedure
To protect from germs entering the patient’s body
After body fluid exposure
To protect you and the hospital from germs
After touching a patient
After touching patient surroundings

18. How can you help? Bugs can be spread from many different things
You can be a great help in stopping bugs or germs spreading by doing simple things
We can all stay healthy by working together

19. How can you help? Remember to always wash your hands:
Before and after preparing food
After using the toilet
Before or after you touch people that are unwell
After coughing or sneezing, if it involves your hands
When you feel unwell and you are touching other people
After touching things like bandages, or fluids from someone like blood or saliva, or dirty things

20. Hospitals Hospitals take care of unwell people
Some of these people have bad bugs and germs
It’s important those people can get better, and if you wash your hands you can help to reduce bugs around them

21. Things to remember
Always cover your mouth if you sneeze or cough, and try to use the inside of your elbow rather than your hands
If you are unwell, make sure you rest and don’t expose others to germs
Washing your hands is an easy way to help stop bugs being spread
Everyone can work together to stop bugs