Lack of Basic Hygiene Services Affects Numerous Health Facilities

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) found that half of health care facilities around the world lack water, soap or alcohol disinfectants, putting around 3.85 billion people at a greater risk of infection, including the 688 million people who receive healthcare at facilities that do not possess any hygiene services. 

“Hygiene in healthcare facilities cannot be secured without increasing investments in basic measures, which include safe water, clean toilets and safely managed healthcare waste,” said Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO. About 3 percent of healthcare facilities in Latin America and the Caribbean do not count with sanitation services, according to the report. 

Although 68 percent of healthcare clinics possess sanitation facilities and 65 percent count with handwashing facilities (water and soap at toilets), only 51 percent pass WHO’s criteria of having both. 

In Mexico, hospitals and clinics in remote rural areas sometimes lack access to the services they need for care provision. “These places must be safe and have the necessary supplies, infrastructure and equipment to be able to address any kind of situation," said Andrés Castañeda, Coordinator, Nosotrxs´ Health and Wellness Cause. Castañeda explained that the two biggest problems regarding medical care in Mexico’s rural areas are insecurity and the lack of proper equipment, leading to a shortage of medical professionals.  

Mexico’s lack of health professionals has led the government to launch several initiatives to hire more. As of August 2022, there was still a need for 4,838 health professionals across 16 states of Mexico, according to Zoé Robledo, Director General, IMSS. 

“The biggest structural deficits of the health system are not having trained enough doctors and not having enough vacancies and budgets for the doctors needed by the system itself,” said Robledo, as reported by El Economista. The doctors hired during the latest session of the National Medical Specialists Recruitment will work at IMSS-Bienestar, providing care to people who do not have access to any social security service. 

On Wednesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador officially constituted IMSS-Bienestar, which aims to provide medical and hospital care to those not affiliated to any social security institution while allowing the provision of progressive, effective, timely, quality and non-discriminatory care to those who meet its requirements. 

President López Obrador also announced the creation of 55 new campuses of “Universidades para el Bienestar: Benito Juárez,” which will focus on providing medical training to health professionals across the country. “There are 145 schools in the country; we are going to reach 200,” said López Obrador.