ABSTRACT
Since December 2019, the respiratory infection coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been responsible for a major pandemic. Several mutations and variants have emerged and been seen throughout the pandemic. They eventually spread to various continents and nations. The most effective method of preventing illnesses from the past till the present has been vaccination. As a result of the advancement of vaccinations, numerous nations have begun immunizing global target groups. From the start of COVID-19 to the present, there aren't many possibilities for therapy. Data indicate that the rapid evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants poses a danger to the effectiveness of currently available medications. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light a serious public health issue that had an impact on everyone in the world. Along with the pandemic's rapid speed, new targeted vaccinations and medical therapies have reduced fears to some extent. Clinical phase studies are still being conducted in various areas because it is evident that the initial antiviral medications approved for use in the treatment of COVID-19 are ineffective in severe cases. Anti-vaccination, however, is one of the most serious barriers to vaccination, which is thought to be vital in the prevention of illnesses. Lack of information, incorrect information, and misguided religious beliefs can all contribute to anti-vaccination. With the advent of SARS-CoV-2 variants, we review the literature to provide an up-to-date overview of the features and efficacy of antiviral therapy and vaccines. Copyright © 2023 by Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Implementation of WHO's multimodal (MM) strategy is essential for strengthening infection prevention and control programme (IPC) in a country. Objectives: To share the experience of Turkey about the strengthening infection prevention and control programme. Methods: In Turkey, structured IPC (infection control committees, training, surveillance, hand hygiene activities) has been put into practice since 2006 by MoH. However, after 2018 MoH focused on IPC core components for strengthening IPC. Electronic surveillance was strengthened. Turkey signed the pledge of hand hygiene and Train the Trainers (TTT) programme was organised for standardized approach based on the WHO' MM Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy. In TTT programme, 34 IPC professionals from 18 hospitals were trained for multimodal HH improvement strategy and a short TTT programme was organized with 32 participants in the largest teaching hospital in Turkey. After Covid-19 pandemic, videos about multimodal hand hygiene strategy were used for e-learning by MoH. To this e-learning programme, 1845 IPC professionals registered and 1287 of them completed. National Infection Control Committee was established in 2018 and National Infection Control Programme and Action Plan was introduced in 2019. The Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF) was first used nationally in 2019 for the documentation of HH situation and also focus on the future plans and challenges. HHSAF was translated in Turkish to increase participation of facilities. Results: HHSAF was sent to 216 hospitals and 125 (58%) submitted their HHSAF. Of these hospitals, 92 (74%) were state hospital, 20 (16%) were university hospital and 13 (10%) were private hospital. Responses to HHSAF questions related to key indicators of the WHO improvement strategy implementation were shown in Figure 1. Conclusion: The survey shows that improvement was achieved on having alcohol-based handrubs available, undertaking staff training, evaluation and feedback and displaying posters on hand hygiene around their hospital. However, a dedicated budget in infection control and improvements in institutional safety climate are gaps that should be focused on. (Figure Presented).