Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in frequency, scale and impact. Health care facilities can amplify the transmission of emerging infectious diseases or multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) within their settings and communities. Therefore, evidence-based infection prevention ...and control (IPC) measures in health care facilities are critical for preventing and containing outbreaks, while still delivering safe, effective and quality health care. This toolkit is intended to support IPC improvements for outbreak management in all such facilities, both public and private throughout the health system. Specifically, this document systematically describes a framework of overarching principles to approach the preparedness, readiness and response outbreak management phases. The document also provides a toolkit of resource links to guide specific actions for each infectious disease and/or MDRO outbreak management phase at any health facility. This document is specifically tailored to an audience of stakeholders who establish and monitor health care facility-level IPC programs including: IPC focal points, epidemiologists, public health experts, outbreak response incident managers, facility-level IPC committee(s), safety and quality leads and managers, and other facility level IPC stakeholders.
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This manual for trainers outlines the information and materials required to undertake training in line with the WASH FIT Guide, including background documents, the content of the recommended training modules and training evaluation approaches. The modular approach outlined enables trainers to decide... on all topics that are most useful to support the delivery of targeted training at the local level. It also provides sample training schedules, evaluation forms and is linked to a full set of interactive, adult-learning focused, training slides.
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The Lancet Vol.400 (2022) p.17-67-1776. Published:October 31, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01884-0.
Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most common complication of surgery around the world: ChEETAh trial finds routinely changing gloves and instruments for wound closure could preve...nt as many as one in eight SSIs in abdominal surgery
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The Sierra Leone National Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines were jointly developed and updated by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Janvier 2022.
L'une des nombreuses inégalités entre les sexes dans le secteur de la santé et des soins que COVID-19 a révélées concerne l'ajustement et la conception des équipements de protection individuelle (EPI). L'apparition rapide et l'ampleur de COVID-19 ont entraîné des pénuries d'...EPI dans la plupart des pays, provoquant des infections et des décès évitables parmi les travailleurs de la santé et d'autres personnes en première ligne. Bien que la plupart des travailleurs de la santé soient des femmes, les spécifications de fabrication des EPI médicaux sont généralement établies en fonction du corps masculin et de nombreux cas d'EPI non conçus pour le corps des femmes ont été signalés. WGH a entrepris un projet de recherche mondial afin de documenter les défis auxquels les travailleuses de la santé sont confrontées.
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One of the many gender inequities in the health and care workforce that COVID-19 has exposed is around the fit and design of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The rapid onset and scale of COVID-19 led to shortages of PPE in most countries, causing preventable infection and mortality among healthc...are workers and others on the front lines. Even though most health workers are women, manufacturing specifications for medical PPE are usually drawn up based on the male body and there have been many reports of PPE not designed for women's bodies. WGH undertook a global research project to document the challenges women health workers have faced.
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Decontamination of medical devices plays an important role in the prevention of health care-associated infections. It includes cleaning, disinfection and/or sterilization. The processes involved in decontamination are complex, require specific infrastructure and equipment, and involve several sequen...tial steps that need to be performed correctly – from device collection and receipt by the decontamination unit to processing, storage and distribution throughout the facility. Quality control procedures (such as validation) at each step of the decontamination process are of the utmost importance to ensure the correct functioning of the equipment and processes. This aide-memoire presents a concise overview of important advice and key elements at a glance.
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This document aims to encourage countries to develop and implement policies to maintain and strengthen IPC programmes and measures in health care facilities in the context of the current ongoing transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, with recognition that epidemiological trends may vary and the risk of tra...nsmission of other pathogens.
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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 fa...cilities 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
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This e-tool is intended for use by people in charge of occupational health and safety for health workers at the national, subnational and facility levels and for health workers who want to know what WHO and ILO recommend for the protection of their health and safety
1.0 PURPOSE
To define the procedure for the conduct of in-person meetings in both healthcare and community settings in response to COVID-19 and with respect to Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) to reduce the risk of disease transmission. A general risk assessment must be conducted to inform... context specific recommendations.
2.0 SCOPE
The procedure in this document is applicable to all meetings that require convening people
together physically.
3.0 SAFETY AND HYGIENE PROCEDURE
Before entry into the meeting room/venue:
• Presentation of evidence for complete doses of COVID-19 vaccination (depending on COVID-19 vaccine taken) or negative COVID-19 PCR test done within the last 72 hours, or where applicable proof of daily negative RDT result. The Africa Union Trusted Travel platform, with technical support from the PanaBIOS Consortium has implemented an online system that allows Airlines and Port Health services to authenticate and verify traveler’s COVID-19 results certificates in line with international standards, across Africa and beyond.
• Hand hygiene stations should be available at the points of entry.
• All participants must wear a well fitted mask that covers the nose and mouth. Medical masks should be provided all meeting participants.
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Health care waste can be difficult to treat and dispose of safely. The environmental and health impacts of waste put extra pressure on resources. Therefore, it is important to try and reduce the quantities of waste wherever possible. Ensure waste is segregated properly at the point of disposal. It i...s cheaper and easier to manage general waste through a municipal waste system than infectious or sharps waste which needs treatment before final disposal. Organic general wastes like food and paper can be composted rather than being wasted. Non- hazardous general waste may also be sorted for recycling.
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Una de las muchas desigualdades de género en el personal sanitario y asistencial que COVID-19 ha puesto de manifiesto es la relativa al ajuste y el diseño de los equipos de protección individual (EPP). La rápida aparición y la escala de COVID-19 condujeron a la escasez de EPP en la mayoría de ...los países, causando infecciones y mortalidad prevenibles entre los trabajadores de la salud y otros en primera línea. A pesar de que la mayoría de los trabajadores sanitarios son mujeres, las especificaciones de fabricación de los EPI médicos suelen estar elaboradas en función del cuerpo masculino y se han registrado muchos casos de EPI no diseñados para el cuerpo de las mujeres. El WGH emprendió un proyecto de investigación global para documentar los retos a los que se enfrentan las trabajadoras sanitarias.
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Achieving universal access to WASH in health care facilities requires political will and strong leadership at both national and facility levels, but is highly cost-effective, and would yield substantial health benefits. A global analysis estimated that universal basic WASH services in health care f...acilities could be achieved in 46 least developed countries (LDCs) by 2030 for less than US$10 billion, which represents additional expenditures of less than US$1 per person per year.
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The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Legal Framework comes before the Specialized Technical Committee on Health and Drug Control for adoption and endorsement. The IPC Legal Framework is designed to guide Member States in the review and strengthening of laws and policies that support IPC at bot...h the national level and in healthcare facilities. In developing this IPC Legal Framework, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)
is furthering its mandates to harmonize disease control and prevention policies and promote the prevention and control of diseases by building capacity of public health institutions in Members States.
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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 by new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of conc...ern 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 document aims to encourage countries to develop and implement policies to maintain and strengthen IPC programmes and measures in health care facilities in the context of the current ongoing transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, with recognition that epidemiological trends may vary and the risk of tra...nsmission of other pathogens.
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Note d'orientation 7 juin 2022.
Ce document a pour but d'encourager les pays à élaborer et à mettre en œuvre des politiques visant à maintenir et à renforcer les programmes et mesures de prévention des infections dans les établissements de soins de santé dans le contexte de la transmission... actuelle du SRAS-CoV-2, tout en reconnaissant que les tendances épidémiologiques peuvent varier et que le risque de transmission d'autres agents pathogènes existe.
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Standard precautions aim to protect both health workers and patients by reducing the risk of transmission of microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources. They are the minimum standard of infection prevention and control practices that should be used by all health-care workers, durin...g the care of all patients, at all times, in all settings. When applied consistently, standard precautions can prevent the transmission of microorganisms between patients, health workers and the environment. This aide-memoire presents a concise overview of important advice for implementation and key elements at a glance.
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