JEDDAH: Finnish health specialists are seeking further cooperation on infection prevention with Saudi Arabia given its experience with handling mass gatherings during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, said a senior researcher at the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences.Dr. Riika Mäkinen, who presented a paper on infection prevention at the recent Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit in Jeddah, said the challenges of climate and large numbers of visitors and pilgrims make the Saudi health and construction sectors areas of research interest worldwide.In August 2017, Saudi Health Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah and his Finnish counterpart Pirkko Mattila signed a memorandum of understanding in the health sector.“There are further opportunities for collaboration,” Mäkinen told Arab News. “The Indoor Hygiene Middle East Construction (IHMEC) project is offering a training program opportunity for emerging specialists in infection prevention and control, quality control, and engineers from maintenance departments from the health and construction sectors in Saudi Arabia.”Mäkinen, who is project manager of the IHMEC, which is supported by the EU, added: “This program will provide a great insight into the optimum procedures that are applied in Finland.”One of the main areas of collaboration is to bring together Saudi expertise in infection prevention and controlling mass gatherings with Finland’s health care system, which is among the best in the world, she said.In cooperation with a large corporate network, the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences and the University of Turku have been researching solutions for improving indoor hygiene since 2012, she added.“The central idea of the indoor hygiene concept is to combine different technologies related to all indoor elements, including air, water and surfaces, to create a comprehensive solution that can increase the level of indoor hygiene during the whole lifespan of a building,” Mäkinen said. This can lower the costs of health care and proactively improve the sector, she added.The IHMEC project aims to provide the Middle East construction market with new and tailor-made indoor hygiene solutions that fit health care needs.“Long-term cooperation with companies and hospitals has resulted in unique know-how of indoor hygiene solutions in Finland,” said Mäkinen.“Through the workings of the interdisciplinary team of IHMEC researchers, guidelines and standards of indoor hygiene have been developed.”She said she was grateful to have been invited by the Saudi Health Ministry to present the project during the fourth Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit.Saudi-Finnish cooperation could have global benefits in terms of dealing with antibiotic-resistant microbes, she added.
