The primary objective of this curriculum is to equip health and care workers with the essential knowledge and competencies necessary for delivering safe and effective care. By doing so it aims to significantly reduce HAIs and combat antimicrobial resistance, thereby safeguarding both patient and HCWs well-being. This curriculum is developed to meet the needs of IPC professionals responsible for developing learning resources and overseeing training within health care organizations. Moreover, the curriculum is intended to encompass all individuals involved in health care delivery and support. This holistic approach includes a wide range of staff -ranging from clinical workers to administrative and auxiliary services, thus ensuring a broad and inclusive approach to IPC training. The guide is designed to be flexible, allowing for adaptation to various educational and practical contexts to meet specific national and local IPC requirements and policies. It delineates three distinct competency levels within the curriculum: • foundational: introduces basic IPC principles applicable universally across all health and care worker roles; • intermediate: delivers more detailed IPC practices, particularly for clinical practitioners in direct contact with patients; • advanced: provides specialized IPC knowledge tailored for clinical specialists and managerial roles, reflecting the specific needs of their positions and settings. This curriculum serves as an essential reference tool to support the planning, development, and localization of IPC education materials, aligning closely with the WHO core components for IPC programmes and the directions provided within the WHO global strategy and action plan on IPC. It supports countries in their efforts to implement actions to improve IPC knowledge and skills among health and care workers according to the recommendations in the WHO global action plan and monitoring framework. By enhancing the IPC competencies of health and care workers, this guide supports the capacity of the health care system to effectively manage and prevent infections, which is particularly crucial in improving patient outcomes and promoting safer health care environments, including in the context of epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies.

The Global Framework for Action 2024–2030 for water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and electricity services in all health care facilities (the “Framework”) serves to guide efforts to deliver safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health care waste management and reliable electricity in all health care facilities. The ultimate aim is to provide quality care for all. The Framework reflects a global consultative process and includes data and recommendations articulated in recent WHO/UNICEF global reports on WASH, waste and electricity in health care facilities. It also provides an operational roadmap for implementing the 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on WASH, waste and electricity in health care facilities. The target audiences for this Framework include health leaders and programme managers at the global and national levels; policymakers; WASH, waste and energy leaders and technical experts; development partners and finance institutions; and actors and experts on gender equality, disability and social inclusion and climate; and, more generally, civil society. The Framework deals with the WASH, waste and electricity elements of the WHO comprehensive approach to build safe, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities.

In the context of strengthening national and facility-level Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) surveillance as a core component of infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes, WHO is publishing this practical handbook, including new simplified and validated case definitions. The main purpose of this handbook is to provide comprehensive guidance on the objectives, key concepts, principles, methods, and best practices of HAI surveillance, in order to help policymakers and IPC and surveillance professionals to design and implement effective surveillance systems to measure the burden of HAI and take action for its prevention. The handbook also includes new definitions that were developed and validated by WHO with consensus by international experts, with the intent that they could be more suitable for use in low-resource settings. These efforts are aimed at enabling more countries to design and implement HAIs surveillance systems programmes, fostering more consistent data collection across diverse healthcare settings, and streamlining the identification of HAIs for global, regional, and national benchmarking.

WASH in health care facilities is essential for quality care – on this there is universal consensus. Many countries are taking action, but more collaborative, focused and expansive effort and investments are needed. This report focuses on global and national efforts and progress to improve water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), cleaning and health care waste management in health care facilities. It builds upon the first update of progress published in 2020. In addition, in response to demands from countries and health actors on providing a consolidated package of information and interventions on climate-resilient and sustainable infrastructure services in health care facilities, data on electricity and examples of electrification are included. It includes a summary of country progress in implementing national actions (“practical steps”) articulated in the 2019 World Health Assembly Resolution on WASH in health care facilities, drawing on data from a “country tracker” and provides insights on successful approaches and challenges from country experiences in improving and sustaining WASH in health care facilities. The main audiences for the report are national health authorities; those engaged in WASH and infection prevention and control (IPC) in health care facilities, including ministries of health, water, infrastructure, energy and financing; global and national WASH and health partners, including donors and health funders; and actors working on climate-resilient and low-carbon health care facilities and health systems.

The first-ever WHO Report on Patient Safety, the "Global Patient Safety Report 2024", offers a comprehensive overview of patient safety implementation worldwide. Aligned with the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030, this report explores policies, strategies, and initiatives shaping safety in health care. From analyses of country actions to in-depth summaries of burden of unsafe care, it provides crucial insights for policy-makers, health care leaders, researchers, and patient safety advocates. Explore how nations address challenges, learn from case studies and feature stories, and gain deeper understanding in priority areas for action. This report serves as a vital resource for fostering global collaboration and advancing patient safety in health care. The contents of this report encompass: - An analysis that compiles and describes actions taken by countries, including the summary of these actions across different WHO regions and income levels based on Member State survey. - An in-depth summary presenting evidence on the overall burden of unsafe health care practices, viewed broadly as well as within specific population groups, clinical domains, and according to major sources of harm. - Case studies showcasing how different countries are learning and developing patient safety solutions within their unique contexts, along with feature stories highlighting key global initiatives and interventions in patient safety. - Comparative analyses offering deeper insights into crucial areas such as patient safety policies, legal frameworks, patient involvement, educational initiatives, reporting and learning systems, and the involvement of various stakeholders.

Critical Care Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures The second edition of Critical Care Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures is a practical overview of essential procedures for the care of critically ill patients. Beginning with chapters outlining the current scope of critical care, the book adopts a systematic stage-by-stage approach from admission to discharge. At each stage, it provides insights into physiology, key procedures, and the relevant evidence base. Now fully updated to incorporate the latest research and best practices, this volume is poised to remain an indispensable resource for the next generation of critical care providers. Readers of the second edition will find: In-depth, beat-by-beat analysis of key procedures in critical care Interventions underpinned by the latest evidence Content aligned with the National Critical Care Competency Framework and endorsed by the British Association of Critical Care Nurses Critical Care Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures is ideal for nurses working in a critical care unit, nurses undertaking post-qualification specialist courses in critical care, or other healthcare professionals working as part of a critical care team.

In the context of the prevention of infections associated with IV catheters, these guidelines (Part 1) provide guidance on best practices for the prevention of BSIs and other infections associated with peripherally-inserted IV catheters, while a subsequent WHO guideline (Part 2) to be developed in 2024 will cover centrally-inserted intravascular catheters. In particular, Part 1 of the Guidelines outlines an evidence-informed approach to the management (namely, insertion, maintenance, access and removal) of peripherally-inserted intravascular catheters, including PIVCs, PICCs and PACs, in three patient populations (adults, adolescents-children and neonates) during the provision of health care in any health care settings, including acute and long-term health care facilities and primary care settings. The intended audience for these guidelines is clinicians (that is, doctors, nurses, IPC professionals, etc.) involved in the management of patients who require intravascular catheters. However, to ensure an appropriate, practical, clinical adherence to the guidelines, hospital administrators and other professionals involved in health care need to understand their importance and the focus of the recommendations to ensure appropriate support for clinicians. Patients are also part of the audience of these guidelines as they need to be generally informed about practices performed for their care and, in some cases, understand the choice of the intervention(s).