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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