Dr Dipendra Raman Singh, Director-General of the Department of Health Services, providing opening remarks during the symposium.
Key stakeholders from academia, the health sector, and the government discussed best practices, challenges, and proposed action points to improve the field of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in Nepal during a two-day National Symposium held in Kathmandu on 30-31 July.
Organized by the Nursing and Social Security Division under the Department of Health Services, with support from WHO, the symposium aimed to gather feedback on the draft of the first National Guideline on IPC.
Participants at the National Symposium on Infection Prevention and Control.
After much deliberation, participants agreed upon an action plan to take forward the IPC guideline for endorsement and implementation. The action plan highlights several points such as identification of necessary resources and multi-stakeholder involvement; conducting baseline assessment on IPC; dissemination of the endorsed guideline at federal, provincial, and local levels; and ensuring constant follow-up of the ongoing activities to sustain the IPC program.
A glimpse of the panel discussion held at the National Symposium on Infection Prevention and Control.
As the first National Guideline on Infection Prevention and Control, the document is expected to bring uniformity and improve the standards of IPC practices across the country. Similarly, this guideline is expected to decrease the burden of healthcare-associated infections among healthcare workers, patients, caretakers, visitors, and the parties directly or indirectly involved in the health system through consistent practice of IPC measures.
Following are some of the resolutions made at the symposium as part of the action plan:
- To establish the IPC program developing IPC framework and strategies for implementation of the program;
- To allocate an appropriate budget for the IPC program;
- To conduct evidence-based research in IPC;
- To enable an environment for the health workers by allocating proper resources, orientation/training, and safety;
- To deploy clinical pharmacists and microbiologists in provincial and local level hospitals;
- To strengthen microbiology labs;
- To monitor and evaluate the progress of IPC practice periodically,
- To include IPC as a core component in Minimum Service Standard.
Dr Roshan Pokharel, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population, delivering his opening remarks at the symposium.
Although it is well known that IPC is an important tool to decrease the burden of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, its significance was further highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to WHO's first-ever global report on infection prevention and control, for “every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries and 15 patients in low- and middle-income countries will acquire at least one health-care associated infection during their hospital stay.” Effective implementation of IPC programmes is key to preventing the risk of infection and AMR in health care.
Dr Roshan Pokharel, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population said: "Having a National Guideline on IPC which will be implemented in both the government and private hospitals once it is finalized will be a huge achievement for us. I thank WHO Nepal for providing technical support in preparing this document. Implementation of the IPC guideline will help reduce the healthcare-associated infections among the healthcare workers and patients."
Based on the discussions and consensus reached during the symposium, WHO will continue its support to finalize the guideline and to further develop the National IPC Program.
Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, WHO Representative to Nepal, sharing his remarks, during the symposium.
Underlining the importance of IPC in his opening address, Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, WHO Representative to Nepal, said: "Around 70% of health care infections can be prevented with effective implementation of IPC programs. This can be achieved by developing national IPC programs and prioritizing its implementation through the allocation of resources including human resources, supplies, and setting up necessary infrastructures."
This activity was supported by USAID.