【close】COVID-19 Webinar #1 "Prevention and Control Strategies for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Hospitals"

Speaker:
Dr. GU Yoshiaki (MD, MPH, PhD, Chief of Information and Education Division of AMR Clinical Reference Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) Hospital, Tokyo, Japan)

Moderator:
Dr. ISONO Mitsuo (Senior Advisor (Health), Human Development Department, JICA)
Ms. MAKIMOTO Saeda (Principal Research Fellow, JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development)

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is still not in sight. To overcome these uncertain challenges, Japan set the goal of "leaving no one's health behind". JICA is taking a holistic approach to addressing the pandemic and health security in our partner LMICs by focusing on prevention, precaution and treatment. By using this approach, we hope to contribute to the protection of people's lives as the urgent target and build more resilient societies.

In a situation we don't have the right solution for yet, it is imperative to continuously share the latest research findings, as well as practical knowledge and experience gained through practice. The aim of this webinar is to invite distinguished Japanese researchers and clinicians to share their latest knowledge and experience in their respective fields, and to promote each country's efforts in protecting people's lives from COVID-19.

Dr. GU discussed the reasons why IPC of SARS-CoV-2 in hospitals is difficult. He described the steps needed to prevent transmissions in hospitals based on his expertise as a member of the Infection Control Team of Tokyo Center for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention (iCDC).

The webinar was joined by more than 400 participants from 39 countries around the world. During a QA session, lots of burning questions were raised: IPC measures including zoning at outpatient departments, design of sample collection room, special measures at ICU, etc. Finally, Dr. GU recommended that it is important to keep good hospital governance to effectively control and respond to cases of hospital-associated COVID-19 infection at medical facilities in resource-limited settings.