National Infection Prevention & Control Strategic Plan 2025-2030

Objectives

The National Infection Prevention and Control Strategic Plan 2025–2030 seeks to institutionalise infection prevention and control (IPC) as a sustainable foundation for safe, high-quality healthcare and health security across Pakistan. It aims to prevent, detect and respond to healthcare-associated infections, contain antimicrobial resistance, and protect patients, healthcare workers and communities.[1][2]The vision is for consistent, high-standard IPC practice in public and private healthcare settings, from primary care and clinics to secondary and tertiary facilities, supported by safety, accountability, equity and continuous improvement.[3][4]

The plan positions IPC as a routine health-system function rather than an emergency-only intervention, aligned with the International Health Regulations (2005), the World Health Organization Global IPC Action Plan and Monitoring Framework 2024–2030, and Pakistan’s National Action Plan for Health Security 2024–2028.[1][5]Its guiding principles include evidence-based and people-centred decision-making, equity and inclusion, country ownership, transparency, sustainability, innovation, resilience, emergency preparedness and intersectoral One Health collaboration.[3][5]

• Institutionalise comprehensive IPC programmes, governance arrangements, dedicated posts and accountability mechanisms at national, provincial, facility and community levels.[5][6][7]
• Standardise national guidelines, facility standard operating procedures, multimodal IPC strategies, clinical bundles, multilingual information materials and regulatory requirements.[7][8]
• Establish a standardised national healthcare-associated infection surveillance system with strengthened detection, recording, laboratory confirmation, reporting, analysis and response.[7][9]
• Strengthen workforce capability through pre-service and in-service training, standardised curricula, certification, e-learning, career pathways and continuous professional education for healthcare workers.[9][8]
• Improve Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, ventilation, isolation capacity, decontamination and sterilisation services, healthcare waste management, essential supplies and IPC-compliant infrastructure.[6][10]
• Protect healthcare workers through occupational health and safety programmes, exposure reporting and management, workplace risk assessments, mandatory vaccinations including Hepatitis B, and safe workload, staffing and bed-occupancy practices.[10][11]
• Build resilience to outbreaks and emerging infectious threats while maintaining essential health services, applying lessons from COVID-19 and other public-health emergencies.[12][13]
• Strengthen One Health action across human health, veterinary health, agriculture, water, sanitation, environment and climate-related sectors to address antimicrobial resistance and related threats.[12][11]

The strategic direction responds to significant baseline gaps: Pakistan’s 2023 Joint External Evaluation rated IPC programmes at 2 out of 5, healthcare-associated infection surveillance at 1 out of 5, and safe environments in health facilities at 1 out of 5, while antimicrobial resistance capacity was also assessed as low.[6]The plan therefore seeks to transform fragmented IPC practice into a harmonised, equitable, sustainable and system-wide standard of care.[2]

Implementation

Implementation is intended to be holistic, multisectoral, country-led and phased from 2025 to 2030, embedding IPC in routine service delivery while adapting action to Pakistan’s federal governance arrangements, provincial autonomy and local epidemiological context.[6][4]Delivery combines national policy and guidance with provincial coordination, facility-level operational planning, workforce development, surveillance, supportive supervision, enabling infrastructure and sustained financing.[14][12]

The National Institute of Health, as Pakistan’s International Health Regulations (2005) focal point, leads and coordinates national efforts, promotes provincial synergy and engages development partners.[1]The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination provides strategic leadership alongside provincial health departments, while implementation involves regulatory authorities, facility managers, IPC committees and teams, focal persons, laboratories, healthcare workers, academic institutions, private providers, community organisations, technical experts and development partners.[9][2]

• Establish or notify national, provincial and regional IPC units or cells, steering committees, Technical Working Groups and focal persons with defined mandates, authority and responsibilities.[7]
• Notify or update multidisciplinary IPC committees, teams and focal persons in primary, secondary and tertiary facilities, supported by dedicated skilled personnel and sanctioned IPC positions.[6][7]
• Develop annual workplans and improvement plans, conduct annual programme reviews, and translate national guidance into practical facility procedures and printed or digital materials.[7]
• Implement multimodal interventions combining system change, supplies, training, communication, visual reminders, leadership engagement, patient-safety culture, monitoring, feedback and staff recognition.[8]
• Deploy digital tools, e-learning, supply-chain tracking and surveillance platforms, including integration with antimicrobial resistance, fungal, laboratory and Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response systems.[12][9]
• Coordinate regulatory bodies to promote compliance with IPC standards and continuing professional education, and develop or update Minimum Service Delivery Standards for worker safety, patient care and working conditions.[7][9]
• Engage international agencies, donors, academia and the private sector to provide technical expertise, financial resources and capacity-building support that complements government action.[12][2]

Monitoring is designed around continuous implementation review, transparent reporting, defined responsibilities and supportive supervision.[4][7]The plan calls for standardised monitoring and evaluation frameworks, facility self-assessments, assessment and reporting tools, key performance indicators, digital data systems, regular audits of hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and healthcare-associated infection prevention, hierarchical performance reviews, feedback and recognition for strong performance.[8]Healthcare-associated infection and antimicrobial resistance data should inform interventions, policy decisions and assessment of IPC effectiveness, with provincial and national DHIS-2-based IPC dashboards supporting collection, reporting, analysis, feedback and dissemination.[4][8]

Financing should be predictable and embedded in routine health-sector and facility budgets, covering IPC personnel, infrastructure, supplies, training, surveillance and capacity building.[6][12]The plan identifies the absence of a sustainable dedicated government fund and wider public-sector budget constraints as major barriers, and proposes sustainable funding, PC-1 proposals, annual facility budget lines and engagement with development partners.[13][7]The provided text does not specify a quantified budget, allocations, monetary funding gap, implementation timetable by activity, detailed indicator matrix or reporting frequency.[6][13][8]

Monitoring & Evaluation

The plan establishes monitoring, surveillance, reporting and accountability as core functions for institutionalising infection prevention and control (IPC) across Pakistan’s health system. It prioritises standardised healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance, continuous performance assessment, digital data systems, supportive supervision and feedback to drive improvement.[5][9][8]

• Establish a standardised national HAI surveillance system covering detection, recording, laboratory confirmation, reporting, analysis, response and dissemination of findings.[7][9]
• Integrate HAI surveillance with antimicrobial resistance, fungal, laboratory and Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response systems, supported by national and provincial laboratory capacity.[9]
• Develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks, standardised assessment and reporting tools, data-collection instruments, key performance indicators and digital platforms for IPC at all levels.[8]
• Use provincial and national DHIS-2-based IPC dashboards for data collection, reporting, analysis, feedback and dissemination, while building the capacity of IPC teams and focal persons to perform these functions.[8]
• Conduct facility self-assessments, routine audits of hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and HAI prevention, supportive supervision and hierarchical performance-review meetings.[8][10]
• Establish annual IPC programme reviews and develop workplans or quality-improvement plans at national, subnational and facility levels.[7][10]
• Define roles, responsibilities and authority for national, provincial or regional IPC units or cells, steering committees, Technical Working Groups, facility IPC committees, teams and focal persons to strengthen accountability.[7]
• Use clear reporting mechanisms, transparent monitoring, leadership engagement, staff recognition and regulatory oversight to promote compliance and continuous improvement.[4][8]
• Strengthen mandatory reporting and management of healthcare-worker exposure to occupational infections, alongside regular workplace risk assessments.[10][11]
• Share surveillance information and reporting across human health, agriculture, veterinary, environmental and other sectors to enable timely detection and response to IPC and antimicrobial-resistance threats.[11]

Baseline weaknesses include limited IPC programme capacity, weak HAI surveillance and unsafe facility environments. Pakistan’s 2023 Joint External Evaluation scored IPC programmes at 2 out of 5, HAI surveillance at 1 out of 5 and safe environments in health facilities at 1 out of 5; antimicrobial-resistance capacity was also low.[6]The plan also identifies the lack of a structured IPC monitoring and evaluation system and poor HAI surveillance implementation as weaknesses.[13]

The supplied excerpts do not provide a complete indicator matrix, reporting frequency, evaluation methodology, national quantitative targets, data-quality standards or a fully specified accountability framework.[14][6][7]

Costing & Financing

The plan presents sustainable, predictable financing as essential to institutionalise IPC as a routine health-system function, support costed action plans and maintain the workforce, infrastructure, supplies, surveillance and training required for safer care.[6][12][2]It frames IPC as a cost-effective investment that can reduce preventable infections, household and health-system economic burdens, antimicrobial resistance and reliance on expensive last-resort medicines.[5][14]

• Embed IPC expenditure within regular health-sector and healthcare-facility budgets, supported by dedicated IPC budget lines.[6][7]
• Secure sustainable funding at all levels and develop PC-1 proposals to support IPC investment and budget creation.[7]
• Prioritise sanctioned IPC cadres or positions, essential infrastructure and supplies, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene standards, training, surveillance, occupational safety and ongoing capacity building.[6][10]
• Support long-term efficiency and resilience through predictable financing, digital technology and supply-chain tracking.[12]
• Mobilise technical and financial support from donors, development partners and external partners alongside government financing.[13][2]
• Require policymakers to endorse costed action plans and facility managers to prioritise resources, training and supportive supervision.[2][15]

Financial support for producing the strategy was provided by The Global Fund through the Common Management Unit for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Pakistan under the C19RM project.[1]The Fleming Fund also provided two full-time consultants to the National Institute of Health IPC team and supported drafting and final review activities.[1]

Financial constraints remain a recognised challenge: the SWOT analysis identifies the absence of a dedicated sustainable government IPC fund and public-sector budget constraints as weaknesses and threats.[13]The supplied excerpts do not specify a total programme budget, individual allocations, monetary funding gap, committed government contribution, donor amount, resource-mobilisation target or detailed economic assumptions.[5][13][2]