Background
This project built on K4C’s successful ‘Maternal Sepsis Intervention (MSI)’ which formed one aspect of our wider project focusing on Antimicrobial Resistance which was initially funded by the Commonwealth Pharmacy Association through the Tropical Health Education Trust in 2019. The MSI demonstrated that implementation of improved wound care practices could reduce instances of maternal sepsis, and also reduce hospital costs, resources, staff time and instances of other hospital acquired infections by improving recovery times and greatly reducing women’s length of stay in the hospital.
How It's Made
The honey gauze is made in a sterile environment by combining
- 20% Vaseline
- 80% locally made pure honey (which is registered with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS)).
After mixing them, the paste is smeared onto sterile gauze and vacuum packed. A dry piece of sealed honey gauze can last up to 5 months.
Each pack of gauze costs just 1000 Ugandan Shillings (roughly £0.20) to produce, making it a relatively cheap and possibly even cost saving for the hospital given the savings achieved by reducing both the length of patient stays and the direct cost of their extended treatment plans. K4C is currently negotiating a social enterprise agreement with FPRRH to enable us to provide the honey dressings sustainably into the future and hope to have this finalised in early 2024.
Implementation
In 2021, three Ugandan midwives were awarded Commonwealth Professional Fellowships to study at the University of Salford, focusing primarily on the Tissue Viability program run by Dr Melanie Stephens. During their fellowship, they learnt about the benefits that honey infused gauze can have for wound care. On their return to Uganda, the team led by K4C midwife Rachel Namiiro used this experience to establish a small base for manufacturing honey gauze within K4C’s laboratory premises in Fort Portal
Utilisation
The team first utilised the honey gauze for dressing the wounds of maternity and gynaecology patients at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital (FPRRH). Due to the success of the project and the positive outcomes observed for patients, the project was upscaled throughout 2022 and 2023 to also include wounds (including burns) the Surgical, Paediatric and Nutrition wards. Between February 2022 and February 2004, K4C supplied over 2000 sealed packs of Honey Gauze to the Hospital (850+ pieces to Surgical Ward; 750+ pieces to gynaecology; 400+ to paediatrics and 40+ to nutrition).
Results so Far
Feedback from patients and staff remains highly positive, with staff reporting significant improvements in wound healing and reduced costs to the hospital:
“Yes, it works. Its working - there was a wound I dressed yesterday that was very septic – and it has improved. Without the honey it would take long to improve” (Nurse, FPRRH).
“We used to use hydrogen peroxide but that burns the tissues around and causes long stays – even people used to use Savlon, and they didn’t know how to dilute it properly. Now we have stopped using hydrogen peroxide” (Nurse, FPRRH).
This success of this project has been recognised through receipt of 2 awards firstly as winner of the “Wounds UK Award for Excellence” in 2022, and secondly as winner of the “Cost Effective Wound Management Award” at the Journal of Wound Management Awards in 2023.
