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Ebola disease and Marburg disease outbreaks continue to occur in Africa, with increased frequency. In addition to resulting in high mortality and morbidity, the outbreaks generate fear and mistrust about the response activities within the communities affected.
Infection prevention and control (IP
...
C) is a key pillar in the outbreak response; adherence to IPC practices can prevent and control transmission of infections to health and care workers, patients and their family members.
During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola disease outbreak, there was an urgent need for rapid IPC guidance to help support ministries of health, health-care providers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In response, WHO produced several documents related to the outbreak based on expert opinion, including IPC-specific documents and documents on clinical management that also referenced key IPC principles and practices. Since that time, many practices in the field have become institutionalized.
more
During the 17 years since Surgical approaches to the urogenital manifestations of lymphatic filariasis was first published, there has been heightened awareness of the physical, economic and emotional burden of the genitourinary manifestations of filariasis. With the impetus to provide better guidanc
...
e for care of those suffering from LF, this update was both warranted and timely.
At the outset, the Committee noted that barriers continue to exist in care of patients affected by LF-associated morbidity. These barriers include lack of information for patients as well as for many healthcare providers, including general surgeons and others within health systems
This update offers a new consensus of the Committee regarding the staging of hydroceles caused by LF, also known as “filariceles”. It recommends integrating LF surgery with other efforts to strengthen surgical care by assessing health facilities for their surgical readiness using the WHO surgical assessment tool or “SAT”. It also recommends integratinghernia surgery with hydrocele surgery and integrating standards for prevention of surgical site infection (SSI).
The update revises recommendations for standard procedures and processes, offers an algorithm for diagnosis (including the use of ultrasound) and discusses postoperative care. It recommends collecting data using the staging and grading system described by Capuano and Capuano along with other metrics for public health management of LF.
A multifaceted approach has therefore been recommended to coordinate public health outreach with national surgical planning and local health systems to include supporting partners such as nongovernmental organizations. Surgical camps with mobile teams, as well as training of personnel at DCP3 “first level” or WHO Level II hospitals (depending on region and resources), have important roles for reducing LF morbidity.
more
Addressing comorbidities and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB Strategy. This WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 6: tuberculosis and comorbidities aims to suppor
...
t countries in scaling up people-centred care, based on the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities, and drawing upon additional evidence, best practices and inputs from various experts and stakeholders obtained during WHO processes. It is intended for use by people working in ministries of health, particularly TB programmes and the relevant departments or programmes responsible for comorbidities and health-related risk factors for TB such as HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, substance use, and tobacco use, as well as programmes addressing mental health and lung health. This operational handbook is a living document and will include a separate section for each of the key TB comorbidities or health-related risk factors. The third edition includes guidance for HIV-associated TB, mental health conditions and diabetes, which are three conditions strongly associated with TB and which result in higher mortality, poorer TB treatment outcomes and negatively impact health-related quality of life. The operational handbook aims to facilitate early detection, proper assessment and adequate management of people affected by TB and comorbidities. Full implementation of this guidance is expected to have a significant impact on TB treatment outcomes and health-related quality of life for people affected by TB.
more
The Infection prevention and control in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a living guideline consolidates technical guidance developed and published during the COVID-19 pandemic into evidence-informed recommendations for infection prevention and control (IPC). This living guideline
...
is available both online and PDF.
**This version of the living guideline (version 5.0) **includes the following seven revised statements for the prevention, identification and management of SARS-CoV-2 infections among health and care workers:
a good practice statement on national and subnational testing strategies;
a good practice statement on passive syndromic surveillance of health and care workers;
a good practice statement on prioritizing health and care workers for SARS-CoV-2 testing;
a good practice statement on protocols for reporting and managing health and care worker exposures;
a good practice statement to limit in-person work of health and care workers with active SARS-CoV-2 infections;
a statement on high-risk exposures and quarantine; and,
a conditional recommendation on the duration of isolation for health and care workers.
Understanding the updated section
Prevention of infections in the health care setting includes a multi-pronged and multi-factorial approach that includes IPC and occupational health and safety measures and adherence to Public Health and Social Measures in the community by the health workforce. The underlying infection prevention and control strategy of this section is the notion that early identification of symptomatic cases, testing and quarantining/isolating health and care workers decreases the risk of nosocomial infection to patients and to other health and care workers.
more
The ongoing global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) poses unique diagnostic and clinical management challenges in regions where seasonal epidemic-prone diseases are endemic. Diseases such as dengue, malaria, seasonal influenza, leptospirosis, chikungunya, scrub typhus and bacterial
...
infections often present with febrile syndromes that mimic or co-exist with SARS-CoV-2 infection, complicating diagnosis and treatment. This document provides guidelines for preventing, diagnosing and managing such co-infections. A high level of suspicion is essential during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, taking into account region-specific disease prevalence. While the WHO's case definition for SARS-CoV-2 is broad and sensitive, the need for parallel testing for co-infections, in accordance with the protocols of the MoHFW, ICMR, NVBDCP and NCDC, is necessitated by overlapping clinical features. Ensuring the availability of reliable rapid diagnostic kits and applying integrated clinical and laboratory approaches are crucial to improving patient outcomes in the context of concurrent infections.
Accessed on 26/08/2025.
more
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a significant burden globally, with millions of patients affected each year. These infections affect bot
...
h high- and limited-resource healthcare settings, but in limited-resource settings, rates are approximately twice as high as high-resource settings (15 out of every 100 patients versus 7 out of every 100 patients). Furthermore, rates of infections within certain patient populations are significantly higher in limited-resource settings, including surgical patients, patients in intensive-care units (ICU) and neonatal units. It is well documented that environmental contamination plays a role in the transmission of HAIs in healthcare settings. Therefore, environmental cleaning is a fundamental intervention for infection prevention and control (IPC).It is a multifaceted intervention that involves cleaning and disinfection (when indicated) of the environment alongside other key program elements to support successful implementation (e.g., leadership support, training, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms). To be effective, environmental cleaning activities must be implemented within the framework of the facility IPC program, and not as a standalone intervention. It is also essential that IPC programs advocate for and work with facility administration and government officials to budget, operate and maintain adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to ensure that environmental cleaning can be performed according to best practices.
more
Information and Approaches for developing Country Settings
This document highlights the key aspects of safe health-care waste management in order to guide policy-makers, practitioners and facility managers to improve such services in
...
health-care facilities. It is based on the comprehensive WHO handbook Safe management of wastes from health-care activities (WHO, 2014), and also takes into consideration relevant World Health Assembly resolutions, other UN documents and emerging global and national developments on water, sanitation and hygiene and infection prevention and control.
more
This Teacher’s Guide accompanies the WHO publication Management of wastes from health-care activities . It provides teaching materials and recommendations for a three day training course, designed
...
mainly for managers of health-care establishments, public health professionals and policy makers
more
2nd edition
WASH FIT is a risk-based, continuous improvement framework with a set of tools for undertaking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) improvements as part of wider quality improvements in health
...
care facilities. It is aimed at small primary, and in some instances secondary, health care facilities in low and middle income countries.
An app, for front line data collection is also available in the Android Google Play store or as a web app
more
Practical Guidelines for Infection Control in Health Care Facilities
recommended
Manju Vatsa, Duangvadee Sungkhobol, Sudarshan Kumari, et al.
WHO Western Pacific, Manila, and WHO South-East Asia, New Delhi
(2004)
C_WHO
An infection control programme puts together various practices which when used appropriately restrict the spread of infection
22 April 2022, This document provides updated interim recommendations on the use of masks by health workers providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This update is prompted b
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y new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of concern including Omicron. Masks continue to be a critical tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These interim guidelines supersede the recommendations provided in the WHO recommendations on mask use by health workers, in light of the Omicron variant of concern published on 22 December 2022.
WHO continually evaluates the emerging evidence and will review these interim recommendations within two months and issue new guidance as needed.
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This Course for Service Providers on how to give Vitamin A Supplementation and Deworming (VAS+D) uses both a Learner’sGuide and a Facilitator’s Guide. The Learner’s Guide is designed for participants in the course who are healthcare workers or trainers learning to deliver vitamin A and Albenda
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zole(for deworming) as part of regular activities associated with community or facility-based health care services, while the Facilitator’s Guide is designed for course facilitators who are planning and conducting courses .
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The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Guidelines aim to support healthcare workers improve quality and safety health care. The Guidelines further aim to promote and facilitate the overall goal
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of IPC by providing evidence-based recommendations on the critical aspects of IPC, focusing on the fundamental principles and priority action areas. All health service organizations should consider the risk of healthcare-associated infection(s) (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) transmission to implement these recommendations. The IPC Guidelines also set national standards for the prevention and control of HAIs and to ensure compliance to the National Quality Standards.
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Antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents are invaluable life savers, particularly in resource-limited countries where infectious diseases are abundant. Both uncomplicated and severe infections are potentially curable as long as the
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aetiological agents are susceptible to the antimicrobial drugs. The rapid rate with which antimicrobial agents are becoming ineffective due to resistance acquired as a result of unchecked overuse and misuse threatens to undo the benefit of controlling infections. The evidence for resistant microorganisms, many times to more than a single antimicrobial agent, has been observed globally. In Tanzania, there is evidence in the form of few scattered studies conducted in different parts of the country in a multitude of settings including health care facilities, the community, domesticated animals and wild animals
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This short paper aims to identify key evidence gaps in our knowledge of livestock- and fisheries-linked antimicrobial resistance in the developing world, and to document on-going or planned research initiatives on this topic by key stakeholders.
The antimicrobial resistant (AMR)
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infections in animals that are of most potential risk to human health are likely to be zoonotic pathogens transmitted through food, especially Salmonella and Campylobacter. In addition, livestock associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA MRSA) and extended spectrum beta lactamase E. coli (ESBL E. coli) are emerging problems throughout the world.
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