Created to help reduce healthcare-related infections in public hospital units in Brazil, the Saúde em Nossas Mãos project has managed to achieve its objective. Between September 2024 and October 2025, the project managed to reduce these hospital infections in adult, child and neonatal intensive care units (ICU) by 26%.
With this reduction in hospital infections, it is estimated that the Unified Health System (SUS) saved more than R$150 million during this period.
The Saúde em Nossas Mãos project was developed by the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital, Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo, Albert Einstein Hospital, Hospital do Coração (Hcor), Hospital Moinhos de Vento and Hospital Sírio-Libanês, which participate in the Support Program for the Institutional Development of the Unified Health System (Proadi-SUS), of the Ministry of Health.
The project’s proposal is to work in Brazilian ICUs to reduce cases of primary bloodstream infection associated with central venous catheters, pneumonia associated with mechanical ventilation and urinary tract infections associated with bladder catheters.
“Health in Our Hands is an initiative that generates a learning movement, where everyone teaches and everyone learns and, most importantly, addresses measures to combat the three main Healthcare-Associated Infections in ICUs. We are talking about serious infections caused by catheters [venoso central, ventilação mecânica e vesical]which increase morbidity, mortality and hospital costs and which can be avoided with effective prevention measures”, said Claudia Garcia, general coordinator of the project, in a note.
Estimates indicate that healthcare-associated infections can cause up to 3.5 million deaths each year worldwide. In Brazil, each infection that is avoided helps save between R$60,000 and R$110,000.
The project’s goal is to reduce these hospital infections by 50% by the end of this year.
