The Infection Prevention, Control and Outreach Office of NCID (ICON) supports the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the National Infection Prevention and Control Programme and its strategies which comprises three key aspects:
- Development of national guidelines and standards on issues related to infection prevention and control (IPC);
- Management and control of disease outbreaks; and
- Drive efforts to achieve excellence in quality of care and low rates of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) through continuous process improvements.
ICON strengthens Singapore’s IPC capabilities by leveraging a multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach. ICON does this through surveillance and audits to monitor trends, measure the impact of interventions and provide recommendations for continuous improvement.
In addition, ICON imparts IPC knowledge and best practices to the healthcare facilities, external agencies and the broader community through regular engagements, training programmes and development of guidance materials. These engagements and initiatives are contextualised to stakeholders’ needs, with the aim to enhance IPC standards for ground processes, bolstering Singapore’s preparedness and response in the fight against infectious diseases.
Through active participation in various international and regional platforms such as the Global Infection Prevention Control (GIPC) Network, ICON also contributes its expertise in the development of international guidelines and facilitates implementation of global IPC priorities at the national level.
