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Surveillance of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: From the Need to a Reality

  • Infection Prevention and Safety in Low and Middle Income Countries (C Bardossy, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion Statement

Surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) is a useful tool for prevention of HAI; however, in low- and middle-income countries, the implementation of HAI surveillance has many methodological and resources challenges. Some challenges are related to skilled and dedicated human resources to perform tasks; others are related to methodological issues such as HAI definition and diagnostic tests available, prioritization of infection to follow-up, data reporting methods, data quality and availability of analyzed information for decision-making. Lack of consistent and representative HAI data are hiding the real HAI problem and decreasing the chances to solve it. Countries should invest strongly to understand the real burden of HAI, and its costs in order to learn the best use of preventive measures available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization, 525 23st, #406. NW, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Valeska Stempliuk BScN, PhD

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  1. Valeska Stempliuk BScN, PhD
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Correspondence to Valeska Stempliuk BScN, PhD.

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Dr. Stempliuk declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Infection Prevention and Safety in Low and Middle Income Countries

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Stempliuk, V. Surveillance of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: From the Need to a Reality. Curr Treat Options Infect Dis 10, 1–6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40506-018-0148-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40506-018-0148-x

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