As part of the Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) Masterclass special session, Dr Daniel VanderEnde delivered a virtual lecture entitled “ The Role of National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance systems and use in low resource settings for healthcare associated infections (HAI)” on 28th January 2023 between 1000 & 1130 hours.
More than 150 participants attended the same which was broadcast live on the UoH virtual and You Tube platforms.
This was jointly organized by the Infecton Control Academy of India (IFCAI) and School of Medical Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH). The organizations have been jointly offering a well subscribed distance education program entitled Diploma in Infection Prevention & Control since 2020.
On behalf of IFCAI and UoH Dr Ranga Reddy Burri introduced Dr Daniel VanderEnde who is a Medical Officer, International Infection Control Program, Office of the Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, CDC, in Atlanta, Georgia. He currently is based in the India CDC office of the United States of America.
Prior to joining CDC in 2015 he practiced clinical medicine and directed communicable disease programs supporting efforts in Africa, Asia, the Carribean and the Middle East to build sustainable capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to healthcare associated infections globally. Since 2018, Dr. VanderEnde has worked to support efforts to to build sustainable capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to healthcare associated infections in India.
In his talk, Daniel gave an overview of the use of the NHSN surveillance system in low-resource settings, including how it can help detect outbreaks of infectious diseases, monitor antimicrobial resistance, and improve infection control practices. With his extensive experience in public health surveillance and deploying the NHSN surveillance systems, he highlighted its use in low-resource settings and the need for global collaborations. In India he closely works with the public NCDC, AIIMS – New Delhi and other stakeholders.
The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) is a comprehensive healthcare safety surveillance platform used by hospitals and health care facilities across the United States to monitor healthcare associated infections (HAIs).
Given the good work being done in India and some other LMICs towards developing their own surveillance systems, Dr Daniel’s talk provided insights into how they may leverage existing models such as NHSN for guidance when building their own platforms while taking into account local needs or constraints faced by those countries with limited resources available for public health initiatives like disease monitoring & control programmes. Through this session, our future leaders especially the DIPC students and almuni gained knowledge about current best practices so they can contribute positively towards strengthening public health infrastructure – both locally & globally – through better utilization of technology-based surveillance solutions.
The session was facilitated by Mr. Pranav Kumar and Ms. Spoorthy of IFCAI and Dr B R Shamanna, SoMS, UOH thanked the speaker.