The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) celebrated until yesterday (Oct 19) the International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW), bearing the slogan 'Celebrating the Fundamentals of Infection Prevention.'
This year's campaign targeted all PHCC staff and health centre patients, as well as community members to raise awareness of the importance of infection prevention, establish good infection prevention practices, and encourage community and staff to follow proper procedures and practices to prevent infection and reduce illness and deaths from infection.
“PHCC strives for establishing strategies for proper procedures and practices to prevent infection through lectures and workshops delivering health education, as adhering to personal hygiene and proper cough and sneeze etiquette is a key element for infection prevention,” said Dr Ahmad Hashem, Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) coordinator at PHCC’s Communicable Diseases and Infection Prevention Department.
The campaign also focused on spreading comprehensive awareness among staff and patients at health centres to prevent the spread of infection, given that many microbes are transmitted through direct contact at the workplaces.
The Covid-19 pandemic shed light on the vital role of IPAC practitioners. They continue to actively work in preventing health care-associated infections and flu outbreaks and overcome other daily infection-related challenges.
PHCC ensures to prevent infection at health centres by providing alcohol-based detergents and raising awareness among its staff and patients about hand hygiene through holding events and creating educational material.
Hand washing with water and soap is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent the spread of many kinds of pathogenic infections, such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, the major cause of mortality among children. Every year, around 3.5mn children under the age of five die due to diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Dr Hashem explained that antibiotics are a powerful weapon against bacterial infections, but they do not work against viral colds and the flu, noting they should be used only when necessary.
To limit the spread of infections that cause respiratory diseases, such as influenza, severe pneumonia, and Covid-19, cough and sneeze etiquette should be followed, he added.
