The WHO Country Office in Ukraine has trained more than 300 health-care workers from over 60 health facilities on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures aimed at reducing the number of health-care associated infections, following the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine.
Participants included IPC specialists, epidemiologists, anaesthesiologists and surgeons from 10 regions of Ukraine. The training aimed to equip them with tools to reduce infections including ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated bloodstream and urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections.
“Following the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, hospitals started to receive increasing numbers of injured patients that require long-term treatment, thereby increasing the risk of health-care associated infections,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.
“In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and partners, WHO in Ukraine is providing tangible knowledge and technical guidance based on best practices to meet ongoing health needs. In 2022, WHO has helped train more than 11 000 health-care workers across a range of health needs, including IPC, and this work is ongoing,” Dr Habicht added.
The trainings focused on IPC measures and also covered issues related to the surveillance of health-care associated infections, the burden of hospital-acquired infections in Ukraine and multimodal strategies for IPC programme implementation.
In 2021, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approved regulations that made IPC programmes mandatory in health-care facilities. Following WHO recommendations, it is now required that at least 1 full-time IPC specialist be available per 250 beds at hospitals in Ukraine.
The Country Office has been providing comprehensive support to health-care facilities in building IPC programmes since 2020. However, the scope of the support is changing to reflect the most pressing needs and challenges.
“If in previous years the main activities were focused on assessing IPC programmes, developing action plans and ensuring commitment from hospital administrations, now the main focus is on the development of standard operational procedures for critical IPC-related processes and the establishment of surveillance of health-care associated infections,” said Dr Arkadii Vodianyk, Technical Officer on Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Resistance, WHO Country Office in Ukraine. “WHO will continue to provide trainings in other regions of the country to support development and establishment of effective and sustainable IPC programmes.”
Financial support for the training has been provided by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG-NEAR).