Uncovering high rates of unsafe injection equipment reuse in rural Cameroon: validation of a survey instrument that probes for specific misconceptions

BACKGROUND

Unsafe reuse of injection equipment in hospitals is an on-going threat to patient safety in many parts of Africa. The extent of this problem is difficult to measure. Standard WHO injection safety assessment protocols used in the 2003 national injection safety assessment in Cameroon are problematic because health workers often behave differently under the observation of visitors. The main objective of this study is to assess the extent of unsafe injection equipment reuse and potential for blood-borne virus transmission in Cameroon. This can be done by probing for misconceptions about injection safety that explain reuse without sterilization. These misconceptions concern useless precautions against cross-contamination, i.e. "indirect reuse" of injection equipment. To investigate whether a shortage of supply explains unsafe reuse, we compared our survey data against records of purchases.

METHODS

All health workers at public hospitals in two health districts in the Northwest Province of Cameroon were interviewed about their own injection practices. Injection equipment supply purchase records documented for January to December 2009 were compared with self-reported rates of syringe reuse. The number of HIV, HBV and HCV infections that result from unsafe medical injections in these health districts is estimated from the frequency of unsafe reuse, the number of injections performed, the probability that reused injection equipment had just been used on an infected patient, the size of the susceptible population, and the transmission efficiency of each virus in an injection.

RESULTS

Injection equipment reuse occurs commonly in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, practiced by 44% of health workers at public hospitals. Self-reported rates of syringe reuse only partly explained by records on injection equipment supplied to these hospitals, showing a shortage of syringes where syringes are reused. Injection safety interventions could prevent an estimated 14-336 HIV infections, 248-661 HBV infections and 7-114 HCV infections each year in these health districts.

CONCLUSIONS

Injection safety assessments that probe for indirect reuse may be more effective than observational assessments. The autodisable syringe may be an appropriate solution to injection safety problems in some hospitals in Cameroon. Advocacy for injection safety interventions should be a public health priority.

AIDS epidemiology in Africa: a changing of the guard

With recent implementation of studies specifically designed to empirically assess the contribution of both sexual and blood-borne exposures to local HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, and with the arrival of a new generation of investigators, a picture of HIV transmission routes of improved validity is emerging. Seven years ago the International Journal of STD & AIDS (IJSA) began actively encouraging reexamination of the prevailing view that penile-vaginal sex was driving African HIV epidemics, welcoming debate via manuscript submission and presentation of fresh scientific evidence. Although the IJSA-published dissenting views have largely been ignored, dismissed or fiercely resisted by established HIV researchers and allied health agencies, new approaches may yet elicit more rational, evidence-based responses. Several such contributions appear in IJSA's present theme issue on aspects of HIV epidemiology in Africa. The focus on recent empiric data, rather than on modelling or speculation, no longer leaves reasonable doubt that sexual behaviours are insufficient to explain 'Why Africa?' It is fitting that this progress was encouraged, from beginning to end, by long-time, and now departing IJSA Editor-in-Chief, Dr Wallace Dinsmore.