| dc.description.abstract | Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitization is one of the key public health practices prescribed to prevent and control COVID-19 transmission and infection. Following this outbreak, so many hand sanitizer manufacturing facilities came up to meet the increased demand for the product but this was largely unregulated as many were not licensed for production.
The availability of unregulated products on the market could lead to compromised quality (substandard) products which defeats the purpose for hand sanitization putting users at the risk of contracting COVID-19 despite the following of a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) or even causing harm to users.
The aim of this study was to assess the quality of alcohol-based hand sanitizer brands available on the market in Kampala district.
Labelling, pH, clarity, odour, regulatory status, alcohol and hydrogen peroxide concentrations were the assessment parameters considered. Of the sampled brands, 3 met the inclusion criteria from which 15 samples were selected. Of the three brands that met the inclusion criteria,67% were authorized by both NDA and UNBS while 33% was authorized by only UNBS.
The encountered alcohol-based hand sanitizer brands were checked using UNBS App and NDA checklist for regulatory status, NDA guidelines for labelling compliance, pH meter to determine the acidity or basicity of samples, an alcohol meter to determine the alcohol concentration and titration method to determine the hydrogen peroxide concentration.
The results obtained showed that, Of the 15 samples 40% met the required labelling standards, while 80% of the samples had a pH reading within the acceptable range. All product samples were free of any visible particles and there was intra- and inter- batch odour consistency. Eighty percent (80%) of the samples were within the recommended range of alcohol concentration (60-95%) whereas 13.3% were within the recommended range (0.125-3.0%) for hydrogen peroxide concentration. Of the 34 brands ABHS met on the market, 17.6% did not comply with either UNBS or NDA regulation.
All the 15 samples had lower concentrations of alcohol and hydrogen peroxide concentration than their label claims.
It was evident that the prevalence of poor-quality alcohol-based hand sanitizers was so high on the market in Kampala district, Uganda, Africa and world over based on the results of this and other related studies by others. | en_US |
