Essential Environmental Health Standards for Health Care

Health care associated infections affect between 5 and 30% of patients. The associated burden of disease is extremely high and is a significant drain on health-sector resources and households. Ensuring safe environmental health conditions in health care can reduce the transmission of health care associated infections. The interventions provide an educational opportunity to promote safe environments that are relevant to the population at large, and thereby also contribute to safe environments encountered at home. This is especially relevant to the trend towards increased home-based care as witnessed in both the developing and developed countries. This document provides guidance on essential environmental health standards required for health care in medium and low-resource countries and supports the development and implementation of national policies. These guidelines have been written for use by health managers and planners, architects, urban planners, water and sanitation staff, clinical and nursing staff careers, and other health-care providers and health promoters.