The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) is launching a nationwide Safe Injection Environment (SIE) Campaign to train paediatricians. The campaign intends to train over 500 paediatricians and health professionals with the objective of protecting children from infections caused by unsafe injections.
Injections are the most commonly administered procedure in the world with over 16 billion administered annually. A child’s journey for injections starts in his first few months through preventive immunization. While preventive immunization constitutes only about 5%, the rest of 95% are for therapeutic reasons. Healthcare professionals often reuse syringe/s or needle/s assuming that they are safe; they also recap the needles after use and throw the plastic and sharps waste in a single container. Suchwrong practices need to be corrected through sanitization and training the best practices on Safe Injections. WHO has estimated that 42% of the Hepatitis C and 33% of Hepatitis B cases can be attributed to unsafe injections.
Under the SIE campaign, IAP will be conducting city-based training workshops in 12 locations across India such as Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Gwalior, Nagpur and Hyderabad. The India-wide campaign will represent IAP members from five zones – East, West, North, South and Central. IAP will be engaging with the local government officials to leverage them as key influencers for the training programs.
According to a 2004 INCLEN study on injection practices, about 63% of all injections administered in India are unsafe. Unsafe injection practices are an important cause behind the spread of various diseases such as hepatitis. When it comes to the health of children, the importance of safe injections cannot be overemphasized. There is an urgent need to train Indian healthcare providers in safe injection practices and the campaign for paediatricians will be very effective in promoting the same in India, especially for children,” Dr. Sailesh Gupta, Secretary General, IAP.
IAP recently released the Safe Injection Guidelines which provides a comprehensive view about the current situation analysis, science behind injection techniques, dos and donts to ensure Safe Injection Practices.
Through these workshops, IAP seeks to ensure that their members at clinics/nursing home follow safe injection practices and thus protect patients, healthcare workers, communities and the environment from risks associated with unnecessary and unsafe injections, as well as improper disposal of medical waste.
The SIE workshops will be conducted by IAP and BD India and will provide details on the current situation and policies of the government, best practices and Safe Infusion, health care worker safety and needle stick injury surveillance.