Resources

In Eastern and Southern Africa, an estimated 3.1 million HAIs in 2022 incurred over 320,000 excess deaths. When all the direct and indirect costs are considered, it is likely that Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) account for well over 7% of health spending and the economic costs of at least US$6 billion exceed 1% of GDP in the nine study countries. Implementation of WASH, HCWM and environmental cleaning is likely to prevent at least 50% of these costs and have multiple additional benefits on patient and healthcare worker safety and satisfaction. Investing in comprehensive WASH and HCWM can yield substantial benefits, with a benefit-cost ratio of 5.8 for all economic costs. Find the policy research paper here!