First priorities: Health care-associated infections
A common platform for working
The agreed common platform of work for all those hospitals participating in the APPS programme is health care-associated infections (HAI). The WHO African Regional Office has identified 12 key areas for patient safety action, (on which the partnerships can choose to undertaken activities in multiple areas within their first 2 year plan). All partnerships have agreed to carry out initiatives focused on HAI as one of their focus areas in their first wave of implementation.
Hand hygiene is at the heart of infection control, an essential procedure of universal relevance in health care. Hand hygiene is a simple low cost procedure, the impact of which can contribute globally to saving millions of lives.
The WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge- Clean Care is Safer Care has been a flagship programme for WHO Patient Safety since its establishment in 2004. It focuses on hand hygiene at the point of care as a key method of reducing health care-associated infections. In May 2009, the WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care were published together with a suite of tools and materials to support the implementation of effective hand hygiene programmes in all health-care environments.
The opportunities for synergy across APPS and the First Global Patient Safety Challenge are exciting and three areas in particular will form the basis of common working:
- Technical – Implementation methodology related to WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care.
- Awareness Raising – Supporting efforts to raise awareness of the importance of hand hygiene and participate in the annual international day of action on May 5th – showcasing the work of the African Region.
- Country Mobilization – The mass pledge of political commitment in the Africa Region in September 2008 has strengthened the case for action on hand hygiene improvement in the African region and APPS can support turning that commitment into action at the bedside.