IFH Partnerships
Germs journey
A Germ's Journey is an educational charity for children on infection control and microbiology. This project has global reach and has reached >250 000 individuals across 117 countries. The founder of the project is Professor Katie Laird. Professor Laird is also the Deputy Director of the Leicester Institute of Pharmaceutical and Health Innovation (LIPHI) at De Montfort university. A shared interest between IFH, the Germ’s Journey charity and LIPHI is public understanding of hygiene, and the use of visual communications to improve hygiene understanding and hygiene behaviour of adults and children.
- A clinical trial evaluation of handwashing products and educational resources to improve hand hygiene in paediatric patients and school children. Public Health. (2024) 12:1427749
- Younie S, Mitchell C, Bisson M-J, Crosby S, Kukona A, Laird K (2020) Improving young children’s handwashing behaviour and understanding of germs: The impact of A Germ’s Journey educational resources in schools and public spaces. PLoS ONE 15(11): e0242134
Hygiene Doctor
Dr Lisa Ackerley is the “The Hygiene Doctor.” This is the consumer facing part of the Public Health Company where there are blogs on many aspects of hygiene and consumer safety, from why you should only eat Lion eggs, to how to take temperatures of food (and why). Lisa explains in easy terms what the journey of the germ is and gives simple, practical advice about how we can keep infections at bay. On her site are links to media recordings, articles and published papers.
e-Bug - Schools Education Project
The e-bug project was launched in 2006, and is funded by the EU Commission and Public Health England. The aim of the project is to ensure that all children leave school with an understanding of hygiene and the issue of antibiotic resistance. The team has prepared teaching resources and interactive websites which are now translated in 27 European languages. IFH had input to the initial development of the teaching resources and continues to promote the project worldwide, wherever opportunities arise.
Infection Prevention Society
The stated mission of the UK Infection Prevention Society is “to inform promote and sustain expert infection prevention policy and practice in the pursuit of patient or service user and staff safety wherever care is delivered”. Where opportunities have arisen, IFH has given support to the activities of the Society, through conference presentations and posters. In 2003, IFH formed a working party with the Community Infection Control Network to develop the home hygiene Training Resource “Home Hygiene – prevention of Infection in the home – a training resource for carers and their trainers”. This was updated by IFH and IPS in 2018. It is available in hard copy from IPS and downloadable from the IFH and IPS websites. It remains one of the most frequently downloaded resources from the IFH website.
Clean Hospitals
Clean Hospitals is an international Centre of Excellence in Public Health, based in Geneva, working for high quality of care and optimal protection and safety of patients and hospital staff. Although the hospital environment tends to be one of the most understudied and underfunded areas in healthcare, evidence suggests that a well-maintained patient environment is crucial for preventing the spread of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. Hospital environment hygiene also has a direct impact on the lives of the people working in the hospitals, as well as a broader impact on communities and the environment.
Clean Hospitals seeks to harness the collective strengths of industry, academia, hospitals, governmental bodies and key stakeholders to raise standards and increase visibility of the hospital environment as a vital component of patient care. IFH and Clean Hospitals believe there is significant overlap between the basic scientific principles of environmental hygiene in healthcare and in homes and public settings and are working together to share knowledge.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
The Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which is working develop a better understanding of hygiene and sanitation practices which can be used to inform public health policy. The Centre has a long-standing interest in promoting hand washing with soap, most particularly in low income communities in developing countries. LSHTM partnered with IFH for our 2 international conferences on “Preventing infectious intestinal disease in the domestic setting” in 2000 in London and “Home hygiene and the prevention of infectious disease in developing countries: a responsibility for all” in 2002 in New Delhi. The conferences focused on infectious intestinal disease in developed and developing countries respectively, exploring each of the “core aspects” of home hygiene including water, sanitation and handwashing.
Royal Society for Public Health
The UK Royal Society for Public Health is an independent, multi-disciplinary organisation, dedicated to the promotion and protection of collective human health and wellbeing. Through advocacy, mediation, empowerment, knowledge and practice the society advises on policy development, provides education and training services, encourages scientific research, disseminates information and certifies products, training centres and processes.
In May 2015, in collaboration with IFH, RSPH hosted a symposium on the hygiene hypothesis and its implications for hygiene in London. The proceedings of the meeting were published:
- Time to abandon the hygiene hypothesis: new perspectives on allergic disease, the human microbiome, infectious disease prevention and the role of targeted hygiene. Perspectives in public health, 136(4), 213-24.
In 2019 and 2023 IFH commissioned RSPH to carry out public Polling to explore public understanding of hygiene and how it differs from cleanliness. The findings of these pols were published:
- RSPH and IFH call for a clean-up of public understanding and attitudes to hygiene 2019; Volume: 139 issue: 6, page(s): 285-288
- Developing better understanding of hygiene is key to developing hygiene behaviour change in home and everyday life settings. Perspectives in Public Health. 2023 April 22
Danish Council for Better Hygiene
The Danish Council for Better Hygiene (Rådet for Bedre Hygiejne) was founded in 2008. Its key aims and objectives are to raise awareness of the importance of hygiene in Denmark and promote good hygiene practices. The council addresses hygiene issues in all sectors from food to healthcare to hygiene in the home. IFH has had the opportunity to present the IFH approach to home hygiene at the annual meeting of the Danish Hygiene Council in 2010 and 2022.