Standard Precaution in Nigeria's Healthcare Industry. A Report on the Need for Universal Safety Precautions in the Nigerian Health Sector

Literature Review from the year 2019 in the subject Health - Public Health, grade: 4.5/5.0, Obafemi Awolowo University, language: English, abstract: In today's world, there exists an overwhelming body of literature with respect to some of the most common causes of infection including viruses, bacteria, and fungi among others. The rising cases of virulence and pathogenicity of these infection-causing micro-organisms in healthcare facilities has led to a consistent increase in hospital -acquired infections. This review attempts to highlight the current knowledge about the role of the universal standard precaution guidelines for tackling the challenge of the rising records of nosocomial infections with respect to healthcare professionals. In 2014, there was wide spread panic all over the west coast of Africa from Liberia to Guinea, from Nigeria to Sierra Leone as a result of the re-emergence of Ebola, a viral hemorrhagic disease. According to the Online New Telegraph report (2017) titled 'Preventing re-emergence of Ebola', the relative low knowledge of the disease in some countries (in addition to other factors) had facilitated the spread of the viral disease within these African States. More importantly, the Nigerian case may be said to be particularly unique. In response to the call for action by the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Nigerian public had quickly adopted some precautionary measures, 'People used face masks, hand gloves, hand sanitizers, refused to even shake hands with or hug acquaintances and friends.' Unfortunately, it seemed that while the general public (even the least educated) had started taking measures against the contagion, a highly significant part of the population was left vulnerable. One of such grievous consequence led to the death of Dr. Stella Adadevoh (1956-2014), who had to make the ultimate sacrifice to avert a major pandemic similar to the death plague in Europe. Dr. Stella Adadevoh had correctly diagnosed the Liberian, Patrick Sawyer as the first case of Ebola at First Consultant Hospital, Lagos despite his insistence that he has a bad case of Malaria. 'Dr. Adadevoh tried to create an Isolation area, despite the lack of protective equipment, by creating a wooden barricade outside Patrick Sawyer's door.' The rest of the painful account rests in the annals of history.