Ministry of Public Health and Partners Celebrate Qatar Infection Prevention Week

MoPH Qatar

The Ministry of Public Health, in cooperation with Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and health facilities in the State of Qatar, organized several important events and activities during the celebration of Qatar Infection Prevention and Control Week from October 15 - 21, under the theme "Celebrating the fundamental of infection prevention". The activities will continue to run in some healthcare facilities until the end of October.

The celebration aimed to shed light on the importance of infection prevention over the past decades and inspire the next generation of infection prevention experts and health workers to join the fight to create a safer world, in conjunction in conjunction with the celebration of International Infection Prevention Week, which is held on the 3rd week of October every year.

During this year's celebration, the focus was on returning to the basics of infection prevention for all, promoting efforts to encourage the application of best practices in healthcare and celebrating the efforts of all healthcare professionals to reduce the risk of infection, as well as promoting safe care provided to all members of society by all health workers and practitioners.

In this context, the Ministry of Public Health organized a virtual symposium opened by Huda Al Katheeri, Director of the Strategic Planning, Performance, and Innovation Department at the Ministry, by thanking health workers for their efforts in health care settings to maintain Patient s safety. She pointed out the importance of promoting infection prevention and control concepts at healthcare facilities and the need to spread the culture of infection prevention and control in the community to raise the awareness of health service users on their role in protecting themselves and others from infection.

Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, representative of the World Health Organization, spoke at the symposium, highlighting the importance of the Global Strategy on Infection Prevention and Control that was adopted during the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly held in May 2023 and presented the objectives of this strategy and Its terms details.

Dr. Jameela Al Ajmi, Executive Director of Corporate Infection Prevention and Control at Hamad Medical Corporation, and Dhouha Hamdani, Lead of the National Infection Prevention and Control Program at the Ministry of Public Health, provided and overview on the achievements of the infection prevention and control program at HMC and at the national level. Dr. Khalid Al-Awad, Director of Health Protection at the Preventive Health at the Primary Health Care Corporation, presented PHCC experience in infection control, and Dr. Amal Saif Al-Maani, Senior Consultant in Pediatric Infectious diseases & Infection Prevention and Control Directorate General for Disease Surveillance & Control at the Omani Ministry of Health, shared the experience of the Sultanate of Oman and the most important achievements of infection prevention and control in the region. The seminar concluded with an intervention by Dr. Hayat Khogaly, Vaccination Supervisor at the Ministry of Public Health, during which she explained the importance of vaccinations to the public in general and to healthcare workers.

About 1,000 specialists and health care providers in the government, semi-government and private sectors, university professors, students of the faculties of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and health sciences, and health professionals from the Sultanate of Oman participated in the seminar.

The seminar included many questions and discussions in order to establish the principles of infection prevention and control to become a constant pillar in providing clean and safe care at all times.
The celebration also included several awareness activities on the importance of infection prevention and control, and a virtual awareness campaign during which awareness messages were broadcast through social media to raise awareness on infection prevention and control and focus on the theme of this year's celebration, in cooperation with all partners in the health sector.

A range of activities were organized such as awareness competitions and educational lectures, and the National infection control team conducted field visits to a group of health institutions participating in this event and held training courses for healthcare to encourage them to follow infection prevention and control policies and guidelines and emphasize that infection prevention and control are not additional secondary practices, but rather the way healthcare is provided in the State of Qatar.

The awareness campaign carried out by the Healthcare Quality Department at the Ministry of Public Health during the Qatar Infection Prevention and Control Week received great interaction from all the healthcare facilities in the State of Qatar, as part of the Ministry of Public Health's keenness to enhance the role that individuals can play in the health and safety of the community.

Qatar Infection Prevention and Control Week is a national initiative launched by the Ministry of Public Health through the Healthcare Quality Department to raise the awareness and spread infection prevention and control concepts among all healthcare providers as well as the public in the State of Qatar, as part of International Infection Prevention Week.

(QNA)