Whether it is in the queue outside a community healthcare clinic, in a GP’s waiting room or the ICU at a private-sector hospital, healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) pose a threat to people.

Measures taken to reduce these infection risks are referred to in healthcare circles as infection prevention and control (IPC) practices. Though the Covid-19 pandemic has firmly placed the spotlight on infection control, particularly as it relates to personal protective equipment (PPE) and limited access to Covid-19 wards, challenges with IPC are much older and broader than just the virus. Last year, for example, Spotlight took an in-depth look (https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2021/07/21/in-focus-how-to-protect-hospitalised-infants-from-dangerous-germs/) at the problem of infants getting infected with dangerous germs such as Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella in South African hospitals...