Country-level assessment of infection prevention and control in public hospitals in Peru

Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are a significant cause of morbidity in hospitals, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed weaknesses in infection prevention and control (IPC) programs. This study aimed to assess the implementation status of IPC programs in public hospitals in Peru during 2023.

We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in 77 public hospitals in Peru that voluntarily completed the standardized "Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework" (IPCAF) developed by the World Health Organization. The instrument evaluates eight core components of IPC programs and classifies implementation levels as inadequate, basic, intermediate, or advanced based on scoring.

Among the hospitals, 49.4 % reached an intermediate IPC level, 27.3 % a basic level, 18.2 % an advanced level, and 5.2 % an inadequate level. The highest-scoring components were HAI surveillance (mean: 74.8) and built environment and equipment (69.6), while the lowest-performing components were multimodal strategies (43.1) and workload and staffing (44.7). Hospitals located in Metropolitan Lima and Callao consistently obtained higher scores than those in other regions of the country.

IPC program implementation in public hospitals in Peru is heterogeneous, with notable gaps in key areas such as staffing, training, and intervention strategies. Strengthening IPC programs requires targeted funding, continuous training, and periodic evaluations to ensure sustained monitoring and improvement.