Infectious Diseases
What We Do › Infectious Diseases
“The burden of communicable diseases is massive indeed, with acute respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria ranking among the top causes of death worldwide. The past decade has also seen dramatic increases in antimicrobial resistance in diseases ranging from tuberculosis and pneumonia to HIV/AIDS.”
Rosamund Williams, coordinator of WHO’s Anti-infective Drug Resistance Surveillance and Containment Project, speaking at AIHA’s 2001 annual partnership conference in Washington, DC.
In the next 60 minutes, some 1,500 people will die from an infectious disease. More than half will be children under the age of five. Of the remaining 50 percent, most will be working-age adults—many of them parents and the primary source of income for their families. These grim statistics, taken from a WHO report titled Removing Obstacles to Healthy Development, indicate that infectious diseases account for more than 13 million deaths a year and are now the world's biggest killer of children and young adults—both “vital age groups that countries can ill afford to lose.”
While most deaths from an infectious disease occur in developing countries, public health threats stemming from new infections such as HIV/AIDS, as well as the re-emergence of old diseases and antibiotic resistant strains, transcend national, cultural, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic boundaries.
Through many of our programs and initiatives, AIHA is working to address communicable diseases in our partnership countries by training healthcare practitioners, spearheading patient education and outreach campaigns, and strengthening health system infrastructures.
Projects
AIHA’s efforts to improve the scope and availability of high-quality services addressing infectious diseases through specific programmatic activities include:
Preventing HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and C in Moldova (PHH)
The overall objective of the USAID-funded PHH/Technical Assistance Support Contract (TASC II ) program is to decrease the transmission of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in Moldova through cost-effective preventive measures. By helping to reduce the public health risk of these diseases, the program will complement and strengthen other related activities in the country by modernizing and institutionalizing critical health services and systems. Read more...
Occupational Health
Keeping healthcare providers and allied professionals healthy and at work is critical for hospitals and clinics around the globe, but even more so in resource-constrained settings which may face serious issues with maintaining adequate staffing levels. Most AIHA partnerships that focus on clinical care or health professions education also address issues of occupational health as a way to safeguard medical professionals and help ensure service delivery. Read more...
WHONET
Through our Infection Control initiative, AIHA has been working to assist ministries of health in Eastern Europe and Central Asia to implement interventions that facilitate the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents their hospitals and reference labs. Starting in 1997, our partners at 17 institutions in the region began using WHONET, a Windows-based database software developed for the management of microbiology laboratory data and the analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility test results. Read more...
Laboratory Services Quality Improvement
Microbiology laboratories in transitioning and developing nations are often both severely under-staffed and under-funded. Evidenced-based procedures aren’t always used due, in part, to lack of necessary equipment and supplies, as well as staff who are trained in their use. Test results from these laboratories are neither readily available to healthcare providers, nor reliably accurate. Consequently, inappropriate antibiotics are often selected and administered, which inevitably leads to the increasing global problem of antimicrobial resistance. Read more...
Infectious Diseases Information Resources
Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA’s strategy for sustainable programs addressing infectious diseases. For more information, please visit the following links:
» EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network
» EurasiaHealth AIDS Knowledge Network
» Articles
» Other Resources
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