WHO Infection Prevention and Control

Global Newsletter

9 July 2024

News from WHO headquarters

WHO World Health Emergencies (WHE) IPC & Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH)

In 2023, the Organization’s WHE IPC & WASH team initiated a project to create a framework for effective IPC training for health and care workers in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable (FCV) countries and low- to middle-income countries (LMIC).

To gather insights and preferences on IPC training during public health emergencies, a survey is being conducted. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete, and is now available in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese.

An email invitation has been sent out requesting your participation. The criteria for participation include health and care workers who have worked in LMICs or FCV countries in the last five years, and those who have received or provided IPC training during public health emergencies. Participants are encouraged to share the survey with their networks and colleagues who meet the criteria and can read one of the survey languages.

The deadline to complete the survey is 26 July 2024.

Clinical management of respiratory diphtheria

Module 4: Infection prevention and control, within the online course "Diphtheria: Clinical management of respiratory diphtheria" has been updated to reflect the latest guidance. The updated module can be found here.

For additional updates, please visit the WHE IPC & WASH team webpages.

Launch of the WASH Global framework for action 2024-2030

The new Global framework for action 2024–2030 is a guide to delivering safe and sustainable water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), health care waste management, and reliable electricity in all health care facilities, with the ultimate goal of providing quality care for all. It reflects a global consultative process and includes data and recommendations from recent WHO/UNICEF reports on WASH, waste, and electricity in health care facilities. It also serves as an operational roadmap for implementing the 2023 UNGA resolution on these topics. The Framework’s target audience includes health leaders, programme managers, policy-makers, WASH, waste and energy leaders, technical experts, development partners, finance institutions, and actors and experts on gender equality, disability, social inclusion, climate and civil society. It addresses the WASH, waste and electricity elements of WHO’s approach to building safe, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities.  Visit the WASH in HCF knowledge portal here.

Launch of a new community of practice for community engagement for quality (CEQ)

The WHO Global Learning Laboratory (GLL) has launched a new community of practice (CoP) focused on community engagement for quality (CEQ). This initiative aims to unite professionals and enthusiasts who are passionate about leveraging community engagement for system-wide improvements. The CoP’s goal is to align science and practice, highlighting the relational and social processes often overlooked in traditional community engagement approaches.

Members of the CoP can expect to engage with peers, participate in collaborative learning through discussions and webinars, share and access resources such as case studies and research findings, and benefit from a supportive network that fosters relationship-building, learning and professional growth.

Existing GLL members can join the CoP here. New members can register by clicking “join the GLL” here.

News from the WHO regions

South East Asia Region

Strengthening Bhutan's health care system: a comprehensive approach to infection prevention and control and total quality management

Bhutan has faced significant challenges in health care service delivery due to gaps in human resource capacity and the lack of a comprehensive health care quality monitoring system. In 2019, the prevalence of health care-associated infections (HAIs) at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital was a concerning 27.20%, much higher than average rates around 10–12% in South-East Asia.

Recognizing these challenges, the WHO Country Office collaborated with Bhutan’s Ministry of Health to strengthen IPC measures. This included providing technical expertise and financial support to improve IPC practices, targeted especially at standardizing waste management, training health care workers in Total Quality Management, and developing IPC standards, guidelines, standard operating procedures and checklists.

As a result of these interventions, the prevalence of HAIs in Bhutan significantly decreased to 5.64% in 2021. Additionally, 97.52% of health care centres implemented quality and safety standards, integrating 69% of applicable key performance indicators into their operations. This has led to an improved job outlook for health care professionals, with 61.3% reporting an excellent patient safety culture. The country has also developed a National guideline for infection control and medical waste management, demonstrating a real commitment to continuously monitoring and enhancing health care quality and safety.

News from our partners

Become certified in IPC

The Certification Board of Infection Control & Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC) is a voluntary board that oversees the certification process for professionals in infection control and applied epidemiology. They offer several certifications, namely:

· Certified in Infection Control (CIC). This credential is for professionals who have demonstrated extensive knowledge and expertise in infection prevention and control.

· Associate – Infection Prevention and Control (a-IPC). This certification is for individuals new to the field of infection prevention and control, including those who may not yet have the experience required for the CIC credential.

· Long-Term Care Certification in Infection Prevention. (LTC-CIP): This is the first certification specifically designed to measure competencies necessary to protect long-term care residents from infection.

All CBIC examinations can be taken daily at Prometric testing centres worldwide or at home via Prometric’s live remote proctoring platform. For any queries about getting certified, visit the

FAQs page or contact CBIC’s Executive Director, Jessica Dangles (jdangles@cbic.org).

IPAC Canada strengthens learning resources for long-term care (LTC)        

IPAC Canada has created two significant resources for infection prevention and control professionals in LTC. In collaboration with Public Health Ontario, a study guide has been developed for those preparing for their LTC-CIP certification. This guide, which includes nine modules and a facilitators’ guide, is available for self-study and for IPAC Canada chapters to form study groups. More information can be found here.

Additionally, IPAC Canada is offering a new long-term care hybrid course in September 2024. This course, which combines online and in-person learning, provides intensive training for IPAC professionals, with a focus on long-term care. It is designed to prepare learners for the LTC-CIP certification. The online part of the course begins on 1 September 2024, followed by a three-day intensive in-person component from 18–20 October in Toronto. More information can be found on the IPAC Canada website, here

APIC/IPAC-Canada Ethical Infection Prevention and Control (EIPAC) Decision-Making Framework

APIC and IPAC Canada have collaborated to create a new resource, the Ethical Infection Prevention and Control (EIPAC) Decision-Making Framework. This tool, available on both the APIC and IPAC-Canada websites, is designed to assist health care professionals in navigating ethical issues in infection prevention and control.  The framework provides a step-by-step process for handling complex situations and includes scenarios to demonstrate its application.

The EIPAC Decision-Making Framework aims to guide IPC teams, especially when facing uncertainty or difficult issues. It is particularly useful in situations involving conflicts of values, moral tension, or potential risks to patients, residents, visitors or staff.

The EIPAC framework, developed by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and health care partners in North Toronto, is an adaptation of an existing ethical framework from the Community Ethics Network. It also incorporates the work of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and Trillium Health Partners.

U.S. CDC presentation on rising rates and increased geographic spread of antimicrobial-resistant infections stemming from the war in Ukraine

On 22 May, the U.S. CDC presented to the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) about the growing spread of antimicrobial-resistant infections stemming from the ongoing war in Ukraine. The CDC is assisting the Ukrainian Government in developing a sustainable model for detecting and responding to antimicrobial resistance in hospitals. This is being done in collaboration with various experts and organizations, including the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, WHO Regional Office for Europe, the WHO Country office for Ukraine, the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, ICAP at Columbia University, the U.S. Department of Defense, APHL, as well as clinical providers.

The CDC is working with regional administrations in three pilot health care facilities in western Ukraine. They are organizing multidisciplinary teams to tackle antimicrobial resistance in hospitals, developing data systems for communication and training on IPC fundamentals, and coordinating efforts from the national to the local level. This presentation recording (beginning at minute 57:22) provides more details about the complex capacity-building, enhanced communication, and improved IPC practices required to address this antimicrobial resistance threat.

The Association for professionals in infection control and epidemiology (APIC) and The International federation of infection control (IFIC) webinar: Non-ventilator Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (NVHAP)

Register here for the webinar Hidden in Plain Sight: Non-Ventilator Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia (NVHAP), the top hospital-acquired infection in the US with speaker Dian Baker, PhD, NP, RN and to be held on Monday 15 July at 10:00 US Eastern Time.  

This newsletter is prepared by the Infection Prevention and Control Technical Unit at WHO headquarters, with input from the WHO IPC global team, our partners and stakeholders.

For further information on WHO and IPC, please visit the WHO IPC web page

Providing WHO information must be balanced with available resources, both human and financial. WHO do their best to translate their most relevant tools and documents. Regretfully, we are not currently able to translate this SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands newsletter into French or Spanish. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and hope that you will remain a valued reader of the newsletter.

La délivrance d'informations provenant de l'OMS dépend des ressources disponibles, à la fois humaines et financières. L’OMS, comprenant l'équipe "Un Soin Propre est un Soin plus sûr", fait de son mieux pour traduire ses outils et documents les plus importants. Malheureusement, nous ne sommes pas actuellement en mesure de traduire la lettre d'information mensuelle de SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands en français et en espagnol.
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La información generada por la OMS, depende de los recursos humanos y económicos disponibles. El Programa, y el equipo de la iniciativa "Cuidado Limpio es Cuidado Seguro", realizan sus mejores esfuerzos para traducir el material y documentos de mayor importancia. Desafortunadamente, por el momento no contamos con la facilidad de traducir el boletin mensual SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands en francés o español. Le
pedimos disculpas por cualquier inconveniente que podamos causarle, y esperamos seguir contando con su valiosa participación como lector de nuestro boletin.