• Bettercare
  • Infection Prevention and Control
← Menu

We have taken every care to ensure that drug dosages and related medical advice in this book are accurate. However, drug and disinfectant dosages can change and are updated often, so always double-check dosages and procedures against a reliable, up-to-date formulary and the given drug’s documentation before administering it.

Infection Prevention and Control: A guide for healthcare workers in low-resource settings

First published in 2014 by Bettercare. This version produced on 26 February 2025.

Text © Academic Unit for Infection Prevention and Control, Stellenbosch University

ISBN (print edition): 978-1-920218-81-2
ISBN (PDF edition): 978-1-920218-82-9
ISBN (reflowable edition): 978-1-928313-03-8

Excluding content explicitly credited to others, this book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0.

This licence means you may share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • Non-Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • No Derivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

For any other uses, please contact Bettercare.

← Title page
Contents →
Bettercare
Bookmarks
    Tap or select text, and then tap the bookmark icon to save a bookmark. Bookmarks are saved in your browser cache. Clearing your cache will remove them.
    Your last visit
      The last time you visited, you stopped reading here.
      Close
      • Twitter
      • Facebook
      • LinkedIn
      • WhatsApp
      • Reddit
      • Email
      • Link
      1. Home
      1. How to use our books
      2. Buy printed books
      3. About Bettercare
      4. FAQs
      5. Contact us
      1. About the book
      2. About the author and editors
      3. Reviews
      4. Acknowledgements
      5. Introduction
        1. About Bettercare
        2. Why decentralised learning?
        3. Free Bettercare Online Learning Platform
        4. Learning programmes
        5. Format of the courses
        6. Contributors
        7. Updating the course material
        8. Contact information
        9. Registration
      6. 1 Role and structure of infection prevention and control programmes
        1. Objectives
        2. Introduction to infection prevention and control programmes
        3. Structure and function of infection prevention and control programmes
        4. Education of healthcare workers
        5. Audits in infection prevention and control
        6. Policy development in infection prevention and control
        7. Report writing in infection prevention and control
        8. Occupational health and safety programmes
        9. Case studies
      7. 2 Micro-organisms of relevance to infection prevention and control
        1. Objectives
        2. Introduction
        3. Pathogenic micro-organisms
        4. Basic anatomy and physiology of bacteria
        5. Fungi, viruses and parasites
        6. Transmission of micro-organisms
        7. Defences against infection
        8. Healthcare-associated infections (HAI)
        9. The role of the laboratory
        10. Control of communicable diseases
        11. Case studies
      8. 3 Risk management in IPC
        1. Objectives
        2. Risk assessment in IPC
        3. Risk management in IPC
        4. Standard and transmission-based precautions
        5. Use of personal protective equipment
        6. Injection safety and re-use prevention devices
        7. Care bundles
        8. Case studies
      9. 4 Hand hygiene
        1. Objectives
        2. Infection transmission via hands
        3. Introduction to hand hygiene
        4. Principles of hand hygiene
        5. Alcohol-based handrubs
        6. Facilities for optimal hand hygiene
        7. Hand hygiene compliance
        8. Case studies
      10. 5 Infection prevention and control considerations for healthcare facility design
        1. Objectives
        2. Healthcare facility design
        3. General wards and clinics
        4. Isolation areas
        5. Specialised areas
        6. Support services
        7. Case studies
      11. 6 Environmental cleaning, waste management and decontamination of medical devices
        1. Objectives
        2. Environmental cleaning
        3. Waste management
        4. Decontamination of medical devices
        5. The role of the sterile services department (SSD)
        6. Case studies
      12. 7 Surveillance and outbreak investigation in low-resource settings
        1. Objectives
        2. Surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAI)
        3. Outbreak investigation
        4. Case studies
      13. 8 Tuberculosis infection prevention and control
        1. Objectives
        2. Tuberculosis in low-resource settings
        3. Tuberculosis transmission
        4. Diagnosis of tuberculosis
        5. Drug-resistant tuberculosis
        6. Global tuberculosis control
        7. Tuberculosis infection prevention and control (TB-IPC)
        8. Administrative control measures
        9. Environmental control measures
        10. Respiratory protection control measures
        11. Healthcare worker adherence to tuberculosis control measures
        12. Occupational health services for tuberculosis
        13. Tuberculosis prevention in the community
        14. Case studies
      14. 9 Antimicrobial stewardship
        1. Objectives
        2. Antimicrobial resistance
        3. Antimicrobial stewardship
        4. Antimicrobial stewardship programmes
        5. The role of IPC in antimicrobial stewardship
        6. Tools for antimicrobial stewardship
        7. Case studies
      15. 10 COVID-19
        1. Objectives
        2. Introduction to COVID-19
        3. How to prevent the spread of COVID-19
        4. Clinical features of COVID-19
        5. Management of people with suspected coronavirus infection
        6. Management of patients with mild COVID-19
        7. Management of patients with moderate or severe COVID-19
        8. Protecting healthcare workers
        9. Vaccines against COVID-19
        10. Case studies
      16. Addendum: Resources for infection prevention and control
        1. Websites
        2. Guideline and policy documents
      1. How to use our books
      2. Buy printed books
      3. About Bettercare
      4. FAQs
      5. Contact us

      Managed by Electric Book Works

      Buy books

      Did you know? Training and learning can be easier on paper. Buy our books now, or order in bulk at low cost.

      Find out more