CONTEXT
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) annual campaign, celebrated every year on 5 May, continues to bring people together and accelerate hand hygiene action at the point of care, to contribute to reducing health care-associated infections and achieving safer, quality health care for all.
WHHD 2024 focuses on promoting knowledge and capacity-building of health and care workers through innovative and impactful training and education on infection prevention and control (IPC), including hand hygiene.
Training and education is one of eight core components of effective IPC programmes, which should be implemented and continuously supported at both the national and health care facility levels, in accordance with at least the WHO IPC Minimum requirements. Furthermore, WHHD this year coincides with a call to countries to urgently consider implementing the first-ever WHO Global strategy on IPC, adopted by all countries at the World Health Assembly in May 2023, and which will be supported by the forthcoming WHO global action plan and monitoring framework. Both documents include a key strategic direction, as well as actions, indicators and targets related to IPC training and education.
THIS YEAR’S CHALLENGE FOR WHHD 2024: SUBMIT YOUR STORY ABOUT INNOVATIVE IPC/HAND HYGIENE TRAINING!
WINNERS WILL BE CELEBRATED AND RECOGNIZED ON THE WHO WHHD 2024 WEB PAGES
WHAT is this invitation about?
WHO is inviting you to share innovative stories/experiences in developing and delivering training on IPC, including hand hygiene, in health care settings.
We are looking for original, creative and impactful narratives that demonstrate excellence in IPC education and training, and are innovative too.
Recognition and visibility
The top three submissions, selected by the WHO IPC team and external experts, will be acknowledged for their innovation, inspiration and potential influence at the global level. The review team will use a scoring system, based on specific selection criteria, to identify the most successful stories. These criteria will cover completeness of the description and documentation, originality/innovation in the training methods, outcomes of the training and knowledge transfer, and sustainability. The top three stories will be showcased on the WHO IPC web pages, offering winners a platform to inspire others on the occasion of this year’s WHHD.
Participants should note that WHO publishing their story does not constitute an endorsement of the organization or activities of the organization featured.
WHO – can participate?
Whether you are an IPC focal point, member of an IPC team, or part of an organization or society, we encourage submissions from both the national and health care facility levels.
It is essential, however, for the individuals or entities making the submission to be identifiable and reachable.
HOW – to participate
Simply email your story to savelives@who.int providing detailed information, as per the guidance below, using the available template. We highly recommend including multimedia elements like web links and videos to support your submission, but cannot guarantee they will be used in the final copy.
Please note that submissions will need to be in English.
Content guidance
Your submission should address the following, in no more than 500 words, by using the available template:
- Who organized the training and who was involved? (health care workers, managers, patients, others?)
- What were the training objectives?
- What was the problem that you were addressing? Why was this training needed? Please provide some context.
- What training method was used? What was innovative about the development and/or delivery of the training?
- What were some of the other major considerations, such as cost, or physical space and surroundings, which possibly affected delivery of the training; also, equipment needed; institutional, behavioural or other challenges?
- Who funded the training?
- What were key facilitating and success factors?
- What were the outcomes and the main learnings from this training? How was the training evaluated, including participants’ satisfaction and any changes in practice? How and where have the outcomes been reported since?
- How was or could this approach be sustained? How could it be applied to other settings/target audiences?
Please ensure that the name of the entity responsible for the training and a contact person (first and last name, postal address, email address and phone number) are clearly indicated and identifiable in the email submission.
Please note that the selected submissions will be edited.
Photo guidance
Photos should be of less than 3 MB and without overlaid text. Please provide credit and a caption of no more than 50 characters.
Important dates
Submissions open on Tuesday 27 February 2024, and close at 6 pm CET on Monday 1 April 2024, so you have ONE month!
Join us in this global endeavour to elevate hand hygiene and IPC practices and safeguard health care for all.
Your story could lead the way in defining the future of IPC training and education worldwide!
