Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

Infection Prevention and Control

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is a multi-disciplinary approach to prevent and control the spread of diseases, but it is not practiced widely or implemented consistently in many countries in the world – including Nigeria. IPC helps prevent patients from acquiring infections (healthcare-associated infections – HAIs) while they are seeking care.

It is essential to not only improve patient safety and the quality of care delivered in health facilities, but also to protect health workers from getting infected and to ensure health facilities are safe.

“Because of DRASA’s training we were able to get accredited. Now we can confidently say our staff are well equipped to help contain infectious diseases.”- Dr. Yemi Johnson, Medical Director, First Cardiology, Lagos

“This program, which is the first of its kind in the country to train and certify IPC professionals by influencing medical practitioners with IPC knowledge, is actually amazing because it is the first and the only IPC program like this in Nigeria so far. The knowledge I gained from the Diploma in IPC enabled me to set up an IPC program in my facility. Interestingly, we are currently implementing it in a stepwise fashion.”- Dr. Nkolika Uwaezuoke

Our Solutions

DRASA supports the institutionalization of IPC into Nigeria’s health system by:

1. Educating Health Workers: DRASA is part of the Center for Infection Control and Patient Safety (CICAPS) at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Through CICAPS, we support the Diploma in Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) and facilitate lectures for the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels of the university’s hands-on, diploma course.

2. Building Health Worker Capacity: We provide short training programs to equip both medical and non-medical personnel of all cadres on IPC – doctors, nurses, lab scientists, hygienists, cleaners and ambulance drivers, to name a few. Our hands-on IPC training and simulation exercises are customized to meet the needs of the health workers and health facilities we serve.

3. Conducting Site Assessments: We conduct on-site IPC assessments in hospitals, clinics and health centers to help health workers and managers determine their IPC gaps and challenges and develop action plans to address them.

4. Supporting IPC Programs: We support health facilities to establish or improve their IPC programs to ensure they are delivering quality, safe care to all patients. DRASA also plays a supportive role to a network of health facilities across the country (the Orange Network) which are centers of excellence in the practice of IPC, as a part of Nigeria’s IPC national strategy called Turn Nigeria Orange.

5. Developing IPC and Patient Safety Policies, Guidelines and Manuals: We support the implementation and review of national and state policies, manuals, and guidelines on IPC.