On the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day, 5th May, ECDC released new web pages dedicated to the Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net). HAI-Net is a European network for HAI surveillance, coordinated by ECDC.The new web pages comprise information on the network and its activities, related events and documents, such as the Improving Patient Safety in Europe Technical Implementation Report, 2005-2008. ECDC continues to work to develop an interactive online database, displaying reports from the European Surveillance System (TESSy) with surveillance data on occurrence and spread of HAI in Europe.
HAI-Net has been coordinated by ECDC since 2008 and its activities are based on the activities of the former IPSE (Improving Patient Safety in Europe) network. The main priorities of its work are the coordination of the European point prevalence survey of HAI and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals, the European surveillance of surgical site infections, the European surveillance of HAI in intensive care units and the repeated point prevalence surveys of HAI and antimicrobial use in European long-term care facilities.
The release of the new web pages coincided with World Hygiene Day. For a third consecutive year, on 5th May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) organised the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, an annual global campaign to support healthcare workers to improve hand hygiene in health care and thus support the prevention of HAI.
For more information on HAI-Net and the WHO SAVES LIVES: Clean Your Hands Campaign please visit:
www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/surveillance/HAI/Pages/default.aspx
