Manila, 3 March 2025 – A new World Health Organization (WHO) report reveals both strengths and dangerous gaps in infection prevention and control systems across six countries in the Western Pacific Region: Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Viet Nam.
Strong infection prevention and control (IPC) measures – such as hand hygiene, aseptic technique, environmental cleaning and patient isolation or cohorting precautions − minimize the risks of patients and health workers being infected in health facilities. This publication highlights the need for countries to strengthen monitoring and evaluation to guide actions to strengthen IPC programmes.
“Investing in IPC saves lives by reducing health-care-associated infections, preventing antimicrobial resistance and enhancing emergency preparedness,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Without effective IPC, quality health care is impossible.”
The report, Infection prevention and control systems in six priority countries in the Western Pacific Region, analyses findings from more than 700 documents. While all six countries have established national IPC programmes, gaps exist in policy implementation; compliance monitoring is limited; and efforts rely too heavily on external funding. These gaps and limitations must be addressed to strengthen health systems, prevent health-care-associated infections and enhance occupational health, the report says.
Turning evidence into action
The report findings are already helping governments in shaping policy decisions. For instance, Cambodia and Solomon Islands are now adjusting their national IPC plans based on its recommendations.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Health is using insights from the report to refine its IPC National Strategic Plan 2022–2030, making a reduction of health-care-associated infections a priority for the country, focusing on strengthening IPC practice monitoring at the facility level and improving surveillance capacity for health-care-associated infections. Solomon Islands has prioritized building the capacity of hospital IPC teams to integrate simulation-based approaches into routine quality improvement reviews, which improve health-care worker practices and hospital environments.
Dr Piukala stressed that IPC must be a priority: “This IPC report provides solid evidence for all levels of government and health-care facilities to invest in training health workers on IPC, improve surveillance systems to track infections in health care, and regularly monitor and supervise IPC measures to keep improving the quality of care.”
Call for strengthened commitment
The report comes amid growing recognition of the importance of IPC in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings complement those of other published WHO reports that capture minimum IPC requirements in countries across different regions, and its recommendations are aligned with WHO’s Global Strategy on Infection Prevention and Control published in 2023.
WHO calls on Member States to strengthen commitments to IPC through increased financial and policy support. This commitment is essential to build resilient health systems that can withstand future health emergencies while providing safe care every day.
“IPC programmes ensure safety for everyone – patients, health-care workers and anyone who spends time in a health facility,” said Dr Piukala. He reiterated WHO’s commitment to providing technical assistance to countries seeking research and support for IPC improvement plans.
For more information, please contact:
WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific Communications Unit
Email: wprocom@who.int