Consolata Hospital Ikonda’s project on infectious diseases control

This book presents and describes the project promoted by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Consolata Hospital Ikonda and financed by the Committee for Charitable Interventions in favour of the Third World of Conferenza Episcopale Italiana. The project, started in June 2015 and concluded at the end of March 2017, has worked in favor of prevention and reduction of nosocomial infections and its mortality rate and for promotion of a correct treatment of patients affected by tuberculosis. These objectives have been pursued through two different instruments: training pathways of the local staff provided by Italian volunteers doctors and new machineries acquired for the microbiology laboratory. Both levels of intervention have made it possible to improve local staff’s awareness of the importance of prevention and their competences in diagnosing infections. After an overview on the Tanzanian context and the implementation phases of the project made by Prof. Roberto Cauda, director of CeSI, and by Antonella Cassano, Francesca Zambito and Laura Elisabetta Bossini, the book describes in detail the content of trainings provided at Consolata Hospital Ikonda, directly through the voices of Università Cattolica doctors who worked there for periods of up to six months. Paola Del Giacomo stresses the importance of hand hygiene in order to reduce the spread of infections inside the hospital; Katleen De Gaetano Donati puts her attention on the role of respiratory and contact isolation offering a detailed overview on the tuberculosis therapeutic approaches; Claudia Palazzolo describes risks connected to an excessive use of antibiotics; Gianmaria Baldin explains the therapeutic protocols for the treatment of infectious diseases and Gian Paolo Zara focuses on the prevention of surgical infections.