Infection Prevention and Control Week
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Week is held during the third week of October each year to highlight the importance of preventing infections.
Background
IPC Week aims to promote infection prevention and control practices in health care and recognises the efforts of healthcare workers to reduce the risk of infection in health care services.
Everyone has a role in preventing and controlling infections in health care. Simple actions, such as hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment and cough etiquette can make a big difference.
IPC Week 2026 – Sunday 18 to Saturday 24 October
Our focus for IPC Week 2026 is past, present, and prepared for the future.
- Recognising the progress made in infection prevention and control (past)
- The importance of consistent IPC practices today (present)
- Highlighting the actions needed to ensure patients, consumers and healthcare workers remain protected into the future.
Use our resources below to identify, protect and promote best practice infection prevention and control in your health service organisation.
This year we acknowledge the foundational infection prevention and control practices which have led to safer care today and the commitment to ongoing best practice to prevent infections in the future – Past, present, prepared for the future.
Past, present, and prepared for the future
Advances in infection prevention and control have significantly improved patient and workforce safety over time. The introduction of universal precautions, then standard precautions, has established a consistent approach to preventing the transmission of infections in healthcare settings.
- Standard precautions are the primary strategy for reducing the spread of infections in healthcare. They must be used for every patient, whether they are known to have an infection or not. The Commission has developed standard precautions posters for hospitals and primary care services, and for aged care services.
- Transmission-based precautions are additional work practices used in situations where standard precautions alone may be insufficient to prevent transmission. Transmission-based precautions include contact, droplet and airborne precautions. Posters on transmission-based precautions have been developed for hospital settings and aged care services.
- The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards strengthen IPC practice in Australia by setting the minimum expectations of effective infection and control practices for health service organisations.
Infection prevention and control remains fundamental to the delivery of safe, high-quality healthcare. Everyone has a role in preventing infections by consistently applying standard precautions, including hand hygiene, safe sharps management, and the appropriate use of personal protective equipment, for every patient, every time.
The Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infections in Healthcare provide guidance for healthcare workers and health service organisations to prevent and control the transmission of infection. It includes guidance for specific organisms and provides a framework for organisations to develop tailored local protocols and processes for infection prevention and control.
The Aged Care Infection Prevention and Control Guide is designed to help aged care workers and providers manage infections in aged care environments. It promotes a systematic, risk-based approach to infection prevention and control in aged care that considers the impact on the older person’s health and wellbeing.
Looking ahead, it is important to maintain and strengthen infection prevention and control practices through risk management, surveillance, quality improvement, and ongoing education for healthcare workers, patients and consumers. These efforts help ensure our health system remains resilient and responsive to future infection risks.
- The Principles of surveillance fact sheet outlines how the surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is important for informing an organisation’s quality improvement activities, evaluating the effectiveness of its IPC strategies and improving outcomes for its patient.
- Antimicrobial stewardship is an example of a quality improvement activity that can be implemented to support optimal antimicrobial prescribing and use and reduce antimicrobial resistance.
IPC Week 2026 promotional resources
| Message 1 | Infection prevention and control means safer care. Act and help raise awareness to protect clinicians, patients and carers this IPC Week. Find out more and access the resources at safetyandquality.gov.au/IPC-Week #IPCWeek @ACSQHC #pastpresentpreparedforthefuture #infectionprevention |
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| Message 2 | Infection prevention and control practices reduce the transmission of infections now and into the future #pastpresentpreparedforthefuture. Learn more about how infection prevention and control stops the spread of infections this IPC week at safetyandquality.gov.au/IPC-Week #IPCWeek @ACSQHC #infectionprevention |
| Message 3 | Infection prevention and control is everyone’s responsibility. Help us stay #preparedforthefuture this IPC week and learn more about the #Infectionprevention and actions you can take to prevent the spread of infection. Learn more and access the latest resource at safetyandquality.gov.au/IPC-Week #IPCWeek @ACSQHC #pastpresentpreparedforthefuture |
Educational resources
Join the conversation
Clinicians and organisations can share our resources through your local networks and social channels during IPC Week. Promoting IPC Week will raise awareness about the importance of infection prevention and control and improving patient safety.