Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, with less than 3 million people. Health service delivery has been hampered by low population density, as well as severe shortages in social services, and limited capacity to improve the accessibility and quality of hospital services. The safety of patients and health workers is compromised by lapses in hospital hygiene, blood transfusion practices, and proper disposal of healthcare waste in both the public and private sectors. The prevalence of Hepatitis B and C among healthcare workers in Mongolia is among the highest in the world.
The objective of this project is to improve Mongolia’s health system procedures, guidelines, and policies in the areas of blood transfusion, infection prevention and control, sterilization, and biomedical waste management through capacity-building and technical assistance.
Project highlights include:
1) Improved safety of the blood services nationwide, and facilitating the achievement of international certification on quality management for transfusion services.
2) Development of Standard Operating Procedures for microbiology laboratories and sterilization departments, and training staff from all project hospitals on the new procedures.
3) Piloting of an active surveillance system for detecting and reporting hospital-acquired infections to the Ministry of Health, and roll-out of the system across the country.
4) Development of guidelines for protection against Hepatitis B and C infection as well as workplace regulation among healthcare workers on blood and body fluid exposure.
5) Recommendations made on sustainable and modernized infrastructure (facilities and equipment) for upgrading of blood services, laboratory services, and medical waste management.
