Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Nov 25;14(1):156.
doi: 10.1186/s13756-025-01672-w.

Assessing the implementation of infection prevention and control measures at private hospitals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ahmed Mohamed Elhag  1 , Yasir Ahmed Mohammed Elhadi  1 , Iffat Elbarazi  1 , Rami H Al-Rifai  1 , Abubaker Suliman  1 , Emad Masuadi  1 , Yauhen Statsenko  2 , Mohammed Khogali  3
Affiliations

Assessing the implementation of infection prevention and control measures at private hospitals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ahmed Mohamed Elhag et al. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. .

Abstract

Background: Implementation of rigorous and effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measures is one of the pillars of preventing health care associated infections, reducing inappropriate use of antimicrobials, and combating antimicrobial resistance. Dubai Health Authority has long been implementing IPC programs in Dubai's health facilities. This study aimed to assess the level of IPC implementation in private hospitals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Methods: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study, using primary data collected between May and July 2023. Data were collected using the World Health Organization's Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework (IPCAF).

Results: Of the 32 hospitals invited to participate in the study, 25 (78%) completed the survey. The overall IPCAF median score of participating hospitals was 752.5 (IQR: 710-760), which corresponds to an advanced level of IPC implementation. No statistically significant difference was observed either in median scores between hospital levels of care (P value = 0.2) or across hospitals with different bed capacity (P value = 0.6). All IPC components achieved high IPCAF scores, with core component 2 (IPC guidelines) and core component 6 (Monitoring and Feedback) having the highest (100) and the lowest (80) median scores, respectively. Notable variation observed within and between components. Despite high overall scores, several gaps were observed, particularly in implementing multimodal strategy, monitoring and assessing safety culture, institutionalizing leadership-driven staff empowerment in certain hospitals.

Conclusion: The study indicated a strong overall IPC implementation in Dubai's private hospitals. However, targeted interventions such as standardized and continuous training, regular hand hygiene audits with feedback, improved surveillance, and expanded antimicrobial stewardship capacity are needed in specific areas to ensure effective and consistent implementation of the core components across all hospitals.

Keywords: AMR; Healthcare-associated infection; IPC; IPCAF; UAE.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and adhered to internationally recognized standards for research. Ethical approval was granted by Dubai Scientific Research Ethical Committee (DSREC-GL09-2023). Informed written consent was obtained from all IPC focal points before the study commenced. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Score distribution across the eight core components of the WHO IPCAF tool in Dubai hospitals, 2023. Boxplot showing the median, interquartile range (IQR), and outliers of the eight core components assessed using the World Health Organization’s IPCAF tool. Each core component has a maximum score of 100. CC1: IPC Program CC2: IPC Guidelines CC3: IPC Education & Training CC4: HAI Surveillance CC5: Multimodal IPC Strategies CC6: Monitoring & Feedback of IPC Practices CC7: Staffing, Workload & Bed Occupancy CC8: IPC Environment & Equipment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Laxminarayan R, Matsoso P, Pant S, Brower C, Røttingen JA, Klugman K, et al. Access to effective antimicrobials: a worldwide challenge. Lancet (London England). 2016;387:168–75. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Laxminarayan R, Duse A, Wattal C, Zaidi AKM, Wertheim HFL, Sumpradit N, et al. Antibiotic resistance-the need for global solutions. Lancet Infect Dis. 2013;13:1057–98. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lim C, Takahashi E, Hongsuwan M, Wuthiekanun V, Thamlikitkul V, Hinjoy S et al. Epidemiology and burden of multidrug-resistant bacterial infection in a developing country. Elife. 2016;5:e18082. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tagliabue A, Rappuoli R. Changing priorities in vaccinology: antibiotic resistance moving to the top. Front Immunol. 2018;9:1068. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haruna UA, Eshun G, Okesanya OJ, Mohammed Elhadi YA, Lucero-prisno DE III. Antimicrobial resistance strains the wallet: who pays when we hit the wall? Microbes Infect Dis. 2024;0:0–0.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources