New data from the World Health Organization underscores the magnitude of health worker vulnerability globally. During the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 115,500 health and care workers lost their lives to the disease—a stark reminder that those who protect patient safety face extraordinary occupational hazards.
The pandemic also exposed fundamental gaps in basic infection prevention infrastructure. More than one in three health facilities worldwide lacked hand-hygiene stations at the point of care, while fewer than one in six countries had any national policy addressing safe and healthy working environments in the health sector.
These figures transcend pandemic response—they reflect how systematically the world has underinvested in health worker safety. For Georgia, this data serves as a critical benchmark for evaluating current protections and identifying urgent gaps in occupational health policy and infrastructure. Read the full article on GMJ Newsroom.
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