University of Namibia

The University of Namibia through the Department of Microbiology – School of Medicine (SoM) has partnered with the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health of University of Bonn – Germany (IHPH) on a four year project (2015-2018) on "Reduction of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) and Improved Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in Namibia". HAI are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions within a healthcare setting and are not manifest or incubating at the time of admission or may appear even after discharge including occupational infections among healthcare workers. Research has proved that more and more people are being affected by HAI and this has caused a big economic burden worldwide. Transmission of HAI is an important aspect of patient safety.

There is a common goal to develop curricula on HAI and IPC by the MoHSS, Management Science for Health (MSH) and the School of Medicine (SoM) of the University of Namibia (UNAM) at the end of this project. The most important goal is to create a learning environment that offers both students and faculty the opportunity to develop the requisite personal characteristics, values, professional competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes which, when applied lead to a desired outcome) required for successful healthcare delivery in Namibia through teaching hand hygiene.