Browsing by Author "Hangulu, Lydia."

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An exploratory study of infection control practices in home-based care in Durban, South Africa.
(2012) Hangulu, Lydia.; Akintola, Olagoke.
Infection control practices are a critical element in home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. It involves principles and procedures used to minimize the risk of spreading infections in home-based care. Infection control practices help to prevent morbidity, mortality rates and improve health for the volunteer caregivers and the patients. However, most previous studies on home-based care have focused on burdens of care, perceptions of rewards, quality of care and challenges faced by caregivers. Therefore, it is not clear how and to what extent infection control practices are carried out in home-based care. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of home-based care coordinators and volunteer caregivers regarding infection control practices in home-based care. Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten home-based care coordinators/project managers and ten focus group discussions were conducted with volunteer caregivers. An interview guide and a focus group schedule with open ended questions were used. Volunteer caregivers in home-based care organizations were faced with practical challenges regarding infection control practices that posed a threat to their work and health. The received insufficient infection control material resources such as gloves, masks and sanitizers. They also mentioned to have received poor quality gloves that easily broke, poor quality aprons that were not tight; easily blown by the wind and also thin masks that could not filter the bad odour. Other challenges that they faced included, insufficient water supply; insufficient knowledge on infection control and lack of cooperation from some patients and some family members regarding the use of protective clothing especially gloves and masks. Most volunteer caregivers were ridiculed by some family, community members and friends. Sometimes they could not access some patient due to HIV related stigma and discrimination. However, volunteers developed various strategies of dealing with these challenges such as replacing the torn gloves with plastics, carrying 2.5 litres of water, educating patients and family members about the importance of wearing gloves and practicing infection control. These findings require the government, NGOs, funders and donors to form a forum with volunteer caregivers to discuss the supply of materials. They need to establish a central administration that will be responsible for allocating adequate and quality materials for infection control practices. This central administration should also be responsible for supervising HBCOs including monitoring and evaluating infection control practices.
Exploring the use and adoption of urine diverting dehydration toilets in Umgababa community in eThekwini Municipality: the experiences of community members and leaders.
(2021) Shange, Thulisile Margaret.; Hangulu, Lydia.; Akintola, Olagoke Olufikayo.
Sanitation is the safe treatment and disposal of human faeces. Ensuring availability and sustainable management of sanitation for all is part of sustainable development goalsagenda 2030. Even though the adoption and use of UDDTs is low in eThekwini Municipality, most of these studies are quantitative in nature and have not been conducted in UMgababa community. Therefore, this study aimed at employing qualitative methods with the aim of exploring the problems associated with the adoption and use of UDDTs in UMgababa community from the perspective of community members and leaders. There were 15 participants in the study. All participants were chosen purposively. They were accessed using snowball sampling a technique that uses referrals. Semistructured interviews and observations were utilized to get data from all participants. All interviews were guided by interview guide with open ended questions. The findings show that there was blame game regarding the installation of UDDTs by Ward councilor and area coordinators. Community members did not have an idea who was responsible for installing of the UDDTs Instead they linked such developments to the ANC which is a leading political party in South Africa. They also mention that they were not consulted about the UDDTs instead the development came as an announcement from the municipality. Training received regarding the use of UDDTs lasted for five minutes. Community members resent the UDDTs adoption and use of UDDTs by community members. These results show that the government uses the top-down approach in designing interventions for the communities. These findings are important for policy makers to conduct an impact assessment and calls for prompt action to be taken to help address the lack of adequate adoption and use of UDDTs by the community members and ultimately improve the wellbeing of the people.
Green strategies for health care waste management in the healthcare facilities in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa: a stakeholder analysis.
(2022) Xulu, Sibongiseni.; Hangulu, Lydia.; Akintola, Olagoke Olufikayo.
Background: Around 5.2 million people die each year from healthcare waste-related diseases worldwide, including 4 million children, and the amount of waste generated by health facilities is increasing, which is a cause for concern. Due to a growth in the number of healthcare facilities and the usage of disposable medical products, South Africa produces 45 000 tons of healthcare waste each year. Hence, there is a need for sustainable interventions to reduce medical waste. The aim of this study was to explore sustainable strategies that exist on healthcare waste management (HCWM) from stakeholders’ perspectives. Methods: Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Eleven participated in the study including waste officers, a hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO), provincial healthcare waste coordinator, an environmental officer, an infection prevention control officer, and a healthcare waste Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) official. Semistructured interviews were conducted using a semi-structured guide. Interview topics included the role of stakeholders in formulating policies, experiences on policy development, and sustainable strategies for HCWM Audio recording was used and transcribed verbatim to isiZulu and translated into English. Findings: Participants reported that recycling of papers is the only HCWM sustainable strategy that hospitals have which is still at the infant stage and faceted with challenges such as mixing of waste and no service providers to sort-out waste. This is further exacerbated by that there is no policy on general waste recycling. Furthermore, participants mentioned that hospitals are planning to use Global Green Healthy Hospital (GGHH) international network to support HCWM sustainable strategies. Lastly, participants stated South African government is not taking a leading role in encouraging waste reduction strategies. Conclusion: Stakeholders agreed that, in general, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is the custodian of waste management policies, however, the Department of Health (DOH) is responsible for developing healthcare waste policies. Thus far, health facilities have adopted recycling of general waste which still runs on an ad hoc basis because there is no general waste policy. It was suggested that the GGHH initiative had the potential to provide technical support to DOH in reducing waste production, advocate recycling and develop policies that promote green strategies. Interventions aimed at facilitating and upporting healthcare waste reduction are needed, more importantly, there is a need for government to develop policies at national, provincial, and local levels to guide sustainable strategies on HCWM.
Policy and practice of health care waste management in community-based care in South Africa.
(2016) Hangulu, Lydia.; Akintola, Olagoke.
Health care waste management (HCWM) is a growing concern more especially in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Improper management of health care waste (HCW) has negative effects on the environment and on the health of the people. Unfortunately, no study has been found so far that addresses policy and practice of HCWM in community-based care (CBC) in South Africa. This thesis begins to address HCWM issues through five manuscripts that use various methods and approaches to develop an understanding of HCWM in CBC. The main scripts in this thesis present: 1) a scoping review that highlights the terminologies of HCW, definitions, categories and its classifications; 2) analysis of international and national policies that govern HCW in South Africa; 3) media analysis which explains how the South African media frames the issue of HCWM; 4) results from interviews with policy makers and stakeholders regarding their opinions on the practices of HCW in CBC; 5) results from focus group discussions, informal interviews and participant observations from the community health workers (CHWs) indicating their experiences about HCWM practices. This study is the first to be conducted in CBC. The methodologies used in this study provide useful insights into HCWM and the findings are an addition to the body of literature on HCWM in CBC, environmental health and public health.