08/06/2021 in News
Indoor Hygiene Databank is now published. In the video Dr Riika Mäkinen and Project Coordinator Tiina Mäkitalo tell about Indoor Hygiene and the databank.
Go to Databank
The importance of Indoor Hygiene has grown during the pandemic, which has been taken into account in the preparation of the country pavillions.
The Finnish Snow Cape pavillion at the Expo 2020 Dubai will be furnished with sustainable products from Isku Interior Oy. All furniture will have antimicrobial contact surfaces to contribute to a clean and healthy pavillion environment.
The Estonian pavillion walls will be prepared with UKU natural finishing solutions.
Both companies have been part og the IHMEC project, which has been promoting indoor hygiene solutions to Saudi Arabian and Middle East markets.
Expo 2020 Dubai will be organised 1.10.2021 – 31.3.2022.
Indoor hygiene, in other words, infection prevention with a built environment, is a new solution for preventing and controlling infections. The Indoor Hygiene Guidelines and solutions, together with new antimicrobial materials, can offer innovative ideas to transmission-prevention measures and enable sustainable investments in building healthier structures that host large groups of people such as schools, airports, and Smart cities in general.
In the spirit of the 2017 MOU between both the Saudi and Finnish Ministries of Health, a knowledge transfer has been growing between the two nations in the Medical field and the IHMEC project is an essential part of that. This IHMEC project is based on the cooperation between researchers and companies from Finland, Sweden and Estonia, to provide new innovative material and design concepts to proactively break the infection chain. The abbreviation IHMEC comes from the words “indoor hygiene solutions to the Middle East construction market”.
In 2019, Finnish institutions presented innovative Indoor Hygiene concepts at the Jeddah “Patient Safety Summit” upon the invitation from the Saudi Ministry of Health. Furthermore, in the same year, a visit by a delegation of 50 healthcare and industrial experts from 22 Saudi institutions took place in Helsinki. A further knowledge-exchange was built on Saudi Arabia’s vast patient safety experience among mass gatherings and infection control.
As a result, a new partnership was born, where in 2020, the first implementation of IHMEC concepts was carried out by Al-Dawaa Medical Services in the novel field of Innovative Hygiene Solutions in Saudi Arabia, making Saudi Arabia the 1st global partner to implement the IHMEC concept country-wide outside of Finland.
According to AlDawaa Director of Business Development, Mr. Fahad Alfarrah “During 2020, we realized the importance of innovative solutions and international collaboration to assist in tackling any future pandemic. Al Dawaa Medical Services Company sees this initiative as a national mission”. It is due to this common objective that the University of Turku (the lead partner in the E.U. Regional Development Fund project) utilized Internationalization Expert Mr. Ibrahim Al-Mafdali Al-Zahrani in facilitating the Saudi Market entry long before the Covid-19 crisis began; through the creation of hands-on exchanges and communication channels between local scientists and stakeholders alike.
Consequently, Wednesday, Dec 16th, marked the MOU Signature between Al-Dawaa medical services company and the University of Turku in Finland & Satakunta University of Applied Sciences. Both parties agreed to increase scientific relations within the field of infection prevention via indoor hygiene, including scientific support in applying the Indoor Hygiene Solutions concept and innovative solutions and increasing knowledge transfer between both countries.
The Signing Ceremony took place at the Finnish embassy in Riyadh, where H.E. Ambassador of Finland, Mr. Antti Rytövuori, awarded four Saudi scientists on behalf of the Finnish universities; for their scientific contribution in transferring knowledge between both countries in public health safety and infection prevention.
In light of these developments, four major hospitals in Saudi Arabia have already agreed to adopt IHMEC’s groundbreaking concepts and solutions. This crucial step represents only the first of many to come, with promising initiatives for enhancing nation-wide wellbeing through future collaborations in the fields of research, innovation, and technology.
IHMEC is taking part in Omnia Health Live virtual event 22.-26.6.2020
https://live.omnia-health.com/en/home.html
LED Tailor Ltd is currently setting foot in the Saudi Arabian market with its innovative health solutions. The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly increased the need for different aids for infection prevention and control, LED Tailor’s products being among them. LED Tailor has established a partnership with Al-Dawaa Medical Services Company Ltd, who will distribute the products in KSA. Al-Dawaa’s main objective is to provide optimal health care services to the Saudi market through its extensive network as one of the biggest healthcare provider.
LED Tailor is a Finnish company specializing in the development and manufacture of chemical-free disinfection solutions based on blue LED light. According to Antti Hyttinen, the Sales Manager of LED Tailor Ltd, one of the company’s most successful products is the Wisdom DS UVC surface disinfection box. “Wisdom DS is available in several hospitals in the EU, and we are glad that this innovative product will be available in the Middle East market. Saudi Arabia will be the first country in the region to utilize it for the benefit of the Saudi health care system.”
Antti Hyttinen says LED Tailor Ltd could not have entered into the Saudi market so quickly without the help of the IHMEC project. IHMEC project aims to create and export joint indoor hygiene solutions of Central Baltic area SME’s into the Saudi Arabian market using indoor hygiene (IH) as a competitive edge. This project is led by the University of Turku, Finland.
Antti also stated that “especially the support lended from the IHMEC Internationalization Expert Ibrahim Alzahrani was valuable, as he has facilitated entry to the Saudi Arabian market and given hands-on to establish a business relationship there with our new reputable partner , Al-Dawaa Medical Services Company Ltd “.
Read more about LED Tailor Ltd
Read more about Al-Dawaa Medical Services Ltd
Come and play with bugs and learn how to protect yourself from infections.
The game was developed for children, but due to the coronavirus it is useful for adults aswell!
Play by pressing the icon
A new, effective and chemical-free solution has been developed in Finland to prevent transmission of coronavirus. The award-winning and patented technology utilizes the antimicrobial properties of visible blue LED light. The blue light utilized in the solution is completely safe for humans and materials, but destroys viruses and other microbes on frequently touched surfaces. Automatic disinfection offers significant advantages over conventional chemical disinfection and the disinfection results are excellent day after day.
– The coronavirus, like all other viruses, spreads easily from one human to another, often via frequently touched surfaces, says scientific expert Camilla Höglund.
The risk of disease caused by viruses can be reduced through good hand hygiene, and the introduction of an automatic disinfection system that provides continuous and automatic disinfection of contact surfaces, Höglund continues.
According to current information, coronavirus is easily transmitted by respiratory droplets from person to person or via hand to the contact surface of the virus. If there is a lot of microbes on frequently touched surfaces, good hand hygiene alone is not enough to control the disease. It is important to disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as door handles and handrails.
Critical spaces are, for example, anterooms leading to hospital isolation rooms and areas, public spaces such as toilets and elevators. Once the virus has reached touchable surfaces, traditional air purifying solutions are ineffective.
LED Tailor Oy is the first company in Europe to offer chemical free disinfection solutions based on blue LED light. The Finnish company develops and manufactures disinfection solutions to improve surface hygiene and air quality in healthcare facilities, industrial premises and sites with indoor air quality problems.
For more information, please contact:
Scientific expert, LED Tailor Oy and PhD student, University of Helsinki
Camilla Höglund
+358 44 766 9037
camilla.hoglund@ledtailor.com
CEO, LED Tailor Oy
Terho Hoskonen
+ 358 44 766 0000
terho.hoskonen@ledtailor.com
The world witnesses the outbreak of novel coronavirus, and triggers the WHO to raise it to the level of Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As the health authorities are fast fighting the epidemic, we need more than good hygienic practices to stop the spread of virus.
Led by the University of Turku, IHMEC project promotes new and innovative indoor hygiene (IH) solutions to break infection chain by stopping the spread of microbes and pathogenic virus.
IH solutions are proven scientifically to increase microbiological cleanliness, and reduce the survival and spread of microbes and pathogenic virus in highly populated indoor environment.
Indoor hygiene solutions target the most frequent route of transmission, i.e., indirect contact with infected patients through objects, instruments, and surface materials.
While good hygiene practices like proper hand hygiene, appropriate cleaning and disinfection are necessary, IH solutions can further stop the spread of infection.
The IHMEC project has a collection of IH guidelines, knowledge, and solution to be shared to break the infection chain.
A comprehensive indoor hygiene solution includes:
By using all the methods and materials mentioned above, the risk of spreading infection through indirect contact can be minimalized or prevent totally.
Our Indoor Hygiene Team will be participating the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh 10-12 September 2019.
Visit our booth: H1.E29. You can discuss with our experts about indoor hygiene solutions and see example of product and innovations for infection prevention in built environment.
Dr. Riika Mäkinen will be a speaker in the Quality Management Conference. Her speech os on 10th pf September at 12.10: Infection Prevention and Control with Indoor Hygiene – The Role in Patient Safety.
On 12th of September we will organise a workshop “How to Prevent and Control Infections with Built Environment”. You are welcomed to join us there and learn more about our solutions.
PROGRAMME
Dr. Riika Mäkinen, Indoor Hygiene Specialist, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Antimicrobial Resistance and Health Care Acquired Infections
Questions and discussion
Dr. Riika Mäkinen, Indoor Hygiene Specialist, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Hygiene in Built Indoor Environment
Questions and discussion
Eng. Marko Kukka, Indoor Environment Specialist, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Hygiene in Planning and Construction
Questions and discussion
Eng. Marko Kukka, Indoor Environment Specialist, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Hygiene in Use, Cleaning and Maintenance
Dr. Mohammed Garout, Infection Prevention & Control Consultant, Saudi Arabia
KSA and Finnish Guidelines: Integration Opportunities
Questions and discussion
N.N.,
Infection Prevention and Control through Behavioral Change
Questions and discussion
Register for the free workshop here
https://www.globalhealthsaudi.com/en/visit/workshops/indoor-hygiene-workshop-by-ihmec.html
https://www.globalhealthsaudi.com/en/home.html
Forum for Wood Building Baltic 2019 was organised in Tallinn 27.2.-1.3.2019. Lauri Kivil from the Estonian Woodhouse Association presented IHMEC project to the nearly 300 interested participants from sixteen different countries. The Estonian Woodhouse Association is a partner in IHMEC project and it promotes wood building to Saudi Arabian construction market. Wood is antimicrobial material and thus suitable material for health care sector.
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