ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH EMERGENCY MITIGATION STRATEGIES OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN BAYELSA STATE

Abstract This paper assessed the health emergency mitigation strategies for health institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The aims were to identify the common health hazards in institutions across Bayelsa State and to assess the mitigation strategies for public health emergencies in the health institutions in Bayelsa State. Descriptive research design was adopted targeting population of 5,086 health workers, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, community health officers, medical laboratory scientists, and other relevant staff. 735 health care workers were sampled in the study and distributed across primary, secondary, and tertiary care facilities. Data collection was carried out using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square were used for data analyses. Results of descriptive statistics showed that common hazards identified in the health institutions were high workload (often 43.4%, always 24.6%), resource inadequacies (often 31.3%, 36.2% always), and challenging schedules (often 36.2%, always 31.3%). The results on institution-based mitigation strategies revealed that 56.5% of the workers agreed to the availability of institution-based mitigation strategies in their health centers. The results also showed that the availability of HIV-specific post-exposure prophylaxis, as emergency mitigation strategy, was highest among in tertiary facilities (64.4%), followed by 58.3% in secondary facilities and 46.5% in primary facilities, demonstrating a statistically significant difference (ꭓ2 = 19.12; p < 0.001). Similarly, regular staff training was highest in the tertiary facilities (50.7%) and lowest in primary facilities (35.4%), with a significant difference across levels of care (ꭓ2 = 14.69; p < 0.001). Access to PPE (ꭓ2 = 19.12; p – 0.001) and practice of proper hand-washing technique (ꭓ2 = 19.12; p – 0.001) were also significantly different across the levels of care. It was concluded that workload, resource inadequacy and schedule problems are common hazards in the health institution and there is substantial level of mitigation strategies available for health emergency situations in the health institutions in Bayelsa state.