Throughout the world, hundreds of millions of patients are affected every year with healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). According to WHO, "the burden of HCAI is several fold higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income ones". However, these numbers in both areas are still great and range from 7 out of 100 of patients admitted to hospitals in developed world countries to 10 out of 100 of patients admitted to hospitals in developing world countries at any given time.
HCAIs are infections contracted during the care process at any healthcare facility. They can affect patients in any type of care setting and can also appear after discharge from the facilities. Patients affected with the negative outcomes of contracting an HCAI can result in "prolonged hospital stays, long-term disability, increased resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials, massive additional costs for health systems, high costs for patients and their family, and unnecessary deaths."
Although HCAIs occur at a high frequency, many countries still struggle with diagnosis of these infections and how to deal with them. WHO highlights and reports data on the HCAI endemic burden throughout the world but even then the true burden of HCAIs is greatly underestimated. By implementing increased education about HCAIs in the healthcare industry, improving staff and accountability, implementing standard precautions, and having core components of infection control there can be many potential solutions for improvement in reducing healthcare associated infections.
UVC Cleaning Systems is committed to reducing infections and illness caused by bacteria and viruses affecting millions of people on a global scale. Our products are another component that can be added to infection control in reducing the numbers of HCAIs before patients are even infected. We target major HCAIs such as C. difficile, MRSA, and S. aureus during environmental cleaning of facilities. We hope that actively working towards an effective way to improve global healthcare can help prevent lives lost to HCAIs.