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Yoliswa Dube recently in Binga
UNITED States embassy officials have commended Binga District Hospital for quality service delivery in infection control and prevention as well as improved quality of HIV care.

HIV Treatment and Care medical officer at United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC-Zimbabwe) Shirish Balachandra said he was impressed with work being done at the hospital.

“I saw a very impressive triaging system where patients who are either confirmed or suspected to have tuberculosis (TB) are immediately isolated from other patients and brought in on a priority basis in particular areas,” he said.

Balachandra had accompanied United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton on a tour of various US-funded initiatives in the district last week.

“I was very impressed with the availability of water and soap; they’ve a contingency plan to make sure that water is available, there was very good signage and ventilation. When you’re coming into a hospital, you should be coming to get better, and not to get sicker,” he said.

With funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), CDC-Zimbabwe is working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to implement projects in quality improvement for HIV care in many sites including Binga District Hospital. Through partnerships with Health Qual International — an organisation specialising in health research — and the Biomedical Research and Training Institute, CDC-Zimbabwe support ensures that outpatients stay on treatment, attend their hospital visits as scheduled and reduce the rate of transmission between health providers and patients.

Binga district is home to approximately 9,300 people living with HIV, based on the country’s 2013 national HIV estimates. Of these, 5,070 are on anti-retroviral therapy.

Hospital officials said the institution had 665 opportunistic infections patients and attended to 25 patients per day. The hospital has nine patients who are multi-drug resistant, five of whom are based in Binga. The hospital has managed to put all patients on an electronic database.

Ambassador Wharton commended hospital staff, led by Dr Sijabule Ndlovu who is also the Binga District medical officer, for their dedication. He applauded the hospital for clearly indicating to patients the expected waiting period at each treatment unit at the hospital.

“That’s something I’ll take away and share with other medical centres not only in Zimbabwe but in the United States as well,” said Ambassador Wharton.

Good infection prevention and control practice is a critical component of quality and safe health care delivery. In 2013, CDC-Zimbabwe supported the country’s health ministry in launching the national Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) guidelines. The guidelines are meant to strengthen infection control practices in health care facilities nationwide to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as TB among patients and staff.