Operational Guide and Team Training for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

The primary goal of the Infection Prevention and Control Public Health Emergency Response Teams (IPC ERU) is to help reduce mortality and morbidity caused by the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings during crises, regardless of the cause (sudden disasters, protracted crises or health emergencies/epidemic periods).

To this end, IPC ERU teams support and strengthen the IPC capacities of existing healthcare facilities so they can continue delivering essential services safely throughout a crisis.

Strengthening IPC in healthcare centres within affected areas as part of humanitarian responses, during an epidemic, offers two key benefits:

• By supporting healthcare workers, the risk of infection among staff and patients can be reduced, thus lowering the potential for community transmission.

• By creating a safer working environment, local healthcare facilities can continue to operate with minimal disruption and serve the community during an outbreak.