Developing Countries Challenged by Low Priority Given to Infection Control

It is not fully understood why policy makers of developing countries often give low priority to infection control and why they are resistant to implementing international guidelines. Ider, et al. (2012) aimed to identify the main perceived challenges and barriers that hinder the effective implementation of infection control programs in Mongolia.

In 2008, 55 individual interviews and four group discussions were conducted, involving policy and hospital-level managers, doctors, nurses and infection control practitioners. Thematic analysis revealed a large number of perceived barriers to the formulation and implementation of infection control policy, including poor capacity of local infection control professionals to generate evidence and a lack of existing local evidence to persuade stakeholders to allocate more resources to infection control.

The study results suggest that the availability of infection control policy and guidelines, and the provision of specific recommendations for low-resource settings, do not assure effective implementation of infection control programs in Mongolia.

The researchers say that much more support will be needed for local infection control professionals to generate evidence for policymakers so that infection control receives appropriate attention and resources. Their research was published in BMC Infectious Diseases.

Reference: Ider BE, Adams J,  et al. Perceptions of healthcare professionals regarding the main challenges and barriers to effective hospital infection control in Mongolia: a qualitative study. BMC Infectious Diseases 2012, 12:170 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-12-170