The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center — which was originally housed at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville — announced it has transitioned to an independent non-profit under a new moniker, International Safety Center.
The International Safety Center will be an extension of the original center, with a renewed focus on collecting and analyzing data that better identifies healthcare worker safety hazards.
The new center will help hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities measure blood and body fluid exposures, sharps injuries and needlesticks. It will also help prevent worker exposures to dangerous pathogens like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, measles and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
"The threat of globally emerging diseases like Ebola, and resurgences of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, reminds us that preventing occupational illness caused by microorganisms found in blood and body fluids has never been more important to the vitality of the healthcare workforce and the communities they serve," said Amber Mitchell, DrPH, president and executive director of the International Safety Center. "We're thrilled to continue, and expand upon, the longstanding mission of the Center…to create a world where there is no occupational illness or infection."
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