- Overview
- Resources
The Role of Cleaners: Neglected Frontline WASH workers in Healthcare Facilities
Purpose of this Webinar
The role of cleaners in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities (HCF) is often overlooked. WASH in healthcare facilities can influence the quality of maternal and newborn care by affecting patient safety and infection prevention and control (IPC). Presenters from the Soapbox Collaborative explain their voyage of discovery of the neglected role of these frontline WASH workers. They further explain needs assessments carried out in seven different countries using checklist, visual inspections and microbiology as well as the resulting training program for cleaners, the Teach Clean Package.
Webinar Summary
The document below provides a comprehensive summary of the webinar, including challenges to implementing the approach, and important points and questions raised in the discussion portion of the webinar.
Recommended Actions
The document below provides an overview of actionable steps for addressing gaps in WASH in HCF costing research.
The Role of Cleaners: Neglected Frontline WASH workers in Healthcare Facilities
Webinar 7 PowerPoint Slides Part 1
Webinar 7 PowerPoint Slides Part 2
Recommended Actions
The document below provides an overview of actionable steps for addressing gaps in WASH in HCF costing research.
Webinar 7 Action Document (PDF)
Additional Resources
1. The Soapbox Collaborative
Visit the Soapbox Collaborative’s website to view more information about the TEACH CLEAN package.
2. An invisible workforce: the neglected role of cleaners in patient safety on maternity units –Cross et al., 2019
This paper is a Soapbox Collaborative publication that proposes how to address the neglect of cleaners, a frontline healthcare workforce.
3. An environmental cleaning bundle and health-care-associated infections in hospitals (REACH): a multicentre, randomised trial –Mitchell et al., 2019
This paper describes the results of the REACH clean study and the successes of the REACH clean bundle at improving cleaning thoroughness and reducing antibiotic resistant infections.
4. Video: TEACH CLEAN Pilot in the Gambia 2016 –The Soapbox Collaborative
Visit the link above to watch a video about the Soapbox Collaborative’s TEACH CLEAN pilot that took place in the Gambia in 2016.
5. Best Practices in Environmental Cleaning in Limited Resource Countries –ICAN and the USCDC
Visit the link above to learn more about the best practices to improve and standardize the implementation of environmental cleaning procedures and programs in all HCFs in limited-resource settings, which will be released soon.
6. WASH in Health Care Facilities –WHO and UNICEF
Visit the link above to learn more about WASH in HCF.