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HAND HYGIENE AND HEALTH CARE IN HOSPITALS Print E-mail

 HAND HYGIENE AND HEALTH CARE IN HOSPITALS

New Delhi, 5 December 2006 

NEW DELHI, December 6 (INFA): Nearly 14 lakh people are sick worldwide at any given time because of infections acquired in hospitals, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

One of the most powerful approaches to fighting the scourge is simple: doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers need to clean their hands every time they see a patient.

“We can reduce these numbers dramatically, and more and more countries are showing they are ready to take action,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) stresses. “With the help of the WHO and other partners these countries are laying the foundations for patients everywhere to receive cleaner, safer care”.

Twenty-two countries representing 55 per cent of the world’s population have signed on to the Global Patient Safety Challenge Clean Care is Safer Care since it was launched by the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety in October 2005.

In developed countries, 5 to 10 per cent of all patients fall ill to infections acquired in hospitals, while in some developing countries as many as quarter of patient may be affected.

Many countries have already substantially improved hand hygiene practice among health professionals. During a recent four-month hand hygiene campaign in Switzerland, for example, compliance with good practices increased 25 per cent among doctors and nurses working in two Cantonal Hospitals. Based on the results of that study it has been estimated that the Swiss could avert 17,000 such infections each year if hospitals nationwide achieved comparable improvements.

Hand hygiene remains the primary measures to reduce health care-associated infection and the spread of antimicrobial resistance, the leader of the Global Patient Safety Challenge and Director of the infection control programme at Geneva’s University Hospitals, Didier Pittet said. “It enhances the safety of care across all settings, from complex, modern hospitals to simple health posts,” he added. ---INFA

DECENT WORK AGENDA

NEW DELHI, December 6 (INFA): Decent Work is a development strategy that acknowledges the central role of work in peoples’ lives: work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom to express concerns, opportunity to organize and participate in decision-making and equal opportunity and treatment for all women and men.

Decent Work belongs at the heart of global, national and local strategies for economic and social progress. It is central to efforts to reduce poverty, and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.

Putting the Decent Work Agenda into practice is achieved through the implementation of its four strategic objectives---creating jobs, guaranteeing rights at work, promoting dialogue and conflict resolution.---INFA

 

 

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