HIV/AIDS through Unsafe Medical Care (11)
-----------------------------------------
I wish to make a contribution to this topic. I think it is about time
that our medical administrators take the bull by the horns in respect
of the quality of health care in our developing countries. Issues of
licensing and accreditation of health services should come to the front
burner. It is not sufficient to publish standards/code of practice and
guidelines; we must put in place support and enforcement systems to
check quacks and other profit-hungry practitioners whose dangerous
practices are worsening the health of their communities. Even if we
have to reuse needles, there are procedures for proper decontamination
and high-level disinfection. Inexpensive solutions like JIK can be used
for decontamination. It kills HIV and HBV viruses. This is the year
2002. Surely, we know what to do, we know the simple technologies
needed for safer practices, but we refuse to change because the society
that we serve accepts our dangerous practices and incompetence in the
public and private sectors.
We blame everybody except ourselves. Shortage of funds is not always
the only problem. We need visionary leadership, support supervision,
improved logistic systems to ensure regular supplies of basic needs and
a crack down on corruption in high and low places! A time will come
when the health consumers in developing countries will start to ask
questions as they do in the developed world. We need not wait for that
time. The HIV/AIDS problem is a crisis situation. The fight against it
requires a multisectoral approach. This is just one.
Emmanuel Otolorin
mailto:eotolorin@jhpiego.net
--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org