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Projects that Need Your Support!

PAHEF is working to fund these projects:

Creation of Teaching Module for Infection Control at Catholic University of Bolivia in Cochabamba

Working with the School of Nursing at the Catholic University of Bolivia in Cochabamba, PAHEF seeks funds for the two-year pilot project Creation of a Module for Teaching about Infections and Infection Control Prevention within the Nursing School Curriculum.

Infections acquired in health care facilities are among the major causes of death and disease among hospitalized patients. This problem is especially acute in Bolivia. At present, none of the curricula in medical or nursing schools include training to prevent and treat these infections among patients as well as health care workers, who also face increasing risk of infection.

The purpose of this project is to modify the way nurses are trained in infections and infection prevention, with emphasis on two aspects:

• The role of nursing in the recognition and prevention of health care acquired infections.
• The teaching and implementation of preventive measures against community-acquired infections in rural indigenous populations.

This project’s goal is to create an integrated teaching module for infection control and prevention to better equip nurses to treat patients. After it is created, it is expected that the module will be incorporated into the nursing curriculum at the School of Nursing, shared with other nursing schools in the country, and published for country-wide student use.

This project has the tools to make a significant contribution to decrease the rate of infections in Bolivia, and could reduce the heavy burden on both patients and public health. In addition, it has the potential to serve as a model for schools throughout Bolivia and be expanded to other countries in Latin America.

Project total cost: $16,700 for 2 years

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The death, disease, and complications caused by health care acquired infections pose major problems and costs to patients, health care workers, and public health in Bolivia. Often, the most vulnerable and poor populations are the ones affected. What makes the problem even more severe is the increasing patient resistance to antibiotics. Infection control programs have proven to decrease the rate of these infections upwards of 35%. However, fewer than 10% of Bolivian hospitals have health care acquired infection surveillance systems.

This project aims to create an integrated program for the surveillance, prevention, and control of health care acquired infections and for the monitoring of antibiotic resistance in a representative group of 7 hospitals in the Bolivian cities of La Paz and El Alto. The data gathered will be collected in a centralized registry that is expected to become the core for the national registry.

The experience gained is expected to lead to the creation of a network that forms the basis of a national infection control program for Bolivian hospitals. Similar to the above project at the University of Bolivia in Cochabamba, this project has the potential to produce significant, needed change to reduce the hefty toll of infections, and to be replicated in other Latin American countries.

Project total cost: $49,600 for 2 years

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PAHEF seeks funds to support the two-year project Creation of a National Coordinated Network of Infection Control and Microbiology Laboratory Units for the Republic of Bolivia working with the Instituto Nacional de Laboratorios en Salud (INLASA) in La Paz.

Infections acquired in health care settings (HAIs) represent a major problem: the rates of infection range from 10% to over 20% in developing countries, meaning one to two out of every ten people treated in a health care facility in Latin America will develop an infection as a complication of the medical care that they received.

HAIs in the health care setting cause a significant health and economic burden for both the patients and for public health. They are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients, often affecting those most vulnerable (infants and the elderly). Additionally, HAIs divert scarce health care resources from more basic needs to handle complications that should be largely preventable.

The management of established HAIs has become even more complicated with the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. In developed countries 50% or more of HAIs are caused by pathogens resistant to common antibiotics. In developing countries, it is feared that up to 70% of HAIs fall in the same category. Despite the high rates of HAIs and their associated morbidity, mortality and high cost, approximately 90% of hospitals in Latin America lack the trained personnel and established structures to prevent and control HAIs. Infection control is often not a part of the curriculum in medical and nursing schools.

This project aims to provide a holistic framework to improve infection control practices in Bolivia. Its objectives include:

1. Development of infection control modules for incorporation into the curriculum taught at medical and nursing schools. A very modest investment would yield a high return, as the basis of appropriate education in Infection Control and Prevention would be established for future nurses and physicians.

2. Development of an integrated computerized network of 25 regional microbiology laboratories , covering the major hospitals in eight of the nine departments of Bolivia tied to the National Reference Laboratory in Microbiology in La Paz.
Benefits:

• Allow the collection of much larger numbers of reliable and verifiable data for national policy making for hospital infections and antibiotic use.
• Facilitate adoption of a standard set of laboratory procedures by all laboratories.
• Allow the central laboratory to expedite introduction of new protocols for pathogens not presently included in the existing protocols.
• Allow the central laboratory to help the regional laboratories with identification of problem pathogens on a real-time basis. In this manner, delays in the correct interpretation of culture results will be avoided, benefiting the patients.
• Allow the central laboratory to do capacity building over the Internet, as well as on-site, while the system is being developed and implemented in the different regional laboratories.
• Allow the use of the same network for the collection of surveillance data on HAIs.

3. Incorporation of Infection Control Surveillance Protocols into the integrated computerized network of 25 regional microbiology laboratories.

4. Establishment of Infection Control Committees
Create access to validated data on HAIs acquired through participation in the integrated computerized 25-hospital network, and share policies and procedures for Infection Control Practices through the Internet, by utilizing the Web domain of Project TAIBOL.

5. Creation of Antibiotic Utilization Committees
Assure utilization of surveillance data on antibiotic susceptibility acquired through the integrated microbiology laboratory network and through the Infection Control surveillance of HAIs. Allow the sharing of policies and procedures for Antibiotic Utilization Practices through the Internet.

6. Create a National Registry of HAIs and Antibiotic Susceptibility Data
The access to validated, reliable, and comparable data on HAIs and antibiotic susceptibilities would allow the formulation of the appropriate policies to reduce HAIs and to promote appropriate antibiotic utilization with the goal of reducing the development of antibiotic resistance.

Combined with the two projects above, these three initiatives cover the scope of the infection control and antibiotic resistance problem: improved graduate school training, better hospital care, and a comprehensive, integrated national hospital network, holding much promise for important progress.

Project total cost: $88,000 over two years

This fund was created through the generosity of the people of Taiwan.

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PAHEF seeks funds to support the 15-month project, The Implementation of an Educational Program to Stimulate the Involvement of Men in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare working with Taller de Historia y Participación de la Mujer (TAHIPAMU) in Bolivia.

Men are often alienated from healthcare services related to reproductive health, birthing, and infant care. This is particularly problematic in indigenous communities, where, for cultural reasons, heath care providers are either unaware of the involvement of men or ignore and censure it, placing all of the demands on the women. TAHIPAMU conducted a study in El Alto, Bolivia in 2002 that demonstrated that men are in fact responsible, participate in pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum care, and support their wives and children. One of the most outstanding conclusions was that the study itself stimulated dialogue between couples.

Building on that research, the goal of this project is to highlight the role of men in reproductive health and integrate them into the process of care in the largely indigenous neighborhoods of Santa Rosas and Rosas Pampas in the city of El Alto. To accomplish this goal, the project aims to:

• Increase the involvement of men in the sexual and reproductive health of themselves and their partner through dialogue and support;
• Increase awareness and improve care administered by healthcare workers, who largely are not part of the indigenous community nor knowledgeable about its traditions and generally ignore the role of men.
• Produce and disseminate educational information in the local communities.

By unifying efforts and focusing on inclusion and education, this project will improve the health and well-being of men, women, and their families.

Project total cost: $24,900 for 15 months