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2026 IPC Week

IPC Week 2026

18 – 24 October

IPC Week is held in the third week of October each year. This year it will be celebrated from 18 – 24 October.

The theme is:

“Generations of Infection Prevention. Past. Present. Protected.”

New Resources

We’ve developed the below resources for you to use in your workplace or community.

Poster

Fact Sheet

IPC has never stood still – and it never will.

Take a look at our IPC Week 2026 Fact Sheet for a glimpse of the past, present and protected future of IPC.

Word Find

Find the IPC word with our printable Word Find puzzle:

Crossword

Print out and share with your team – keep the solutions on page 2 for later!

Pin the PPE on the Infection

Spot the bug, pick the gear – can you match the right gear for the infection?

Print out the pages, provide PPE gear, and your staff simply attach using pins, tacks or Velcro as they pass. You can ‘reset’ the poster throughout the day, and give prizes at the end of the week.

Colouring Pages

It’s not just children who love colouring in!

Print out our fun IPC Week colouring pages and get those crayons, pencils, and textas out!

You can have your own competition, or just display them on your noticeboard.

Get colouring!

Cupcake Flags

Who can resist a baked treat during IPC Week?

Print out our themed cupcake flags and use toothpicks to attach to your team’s morning or afternoon tea snacks!

Wordle of the Day

We’ll be posting an IPC-themed Wordle here each day from Monday 19 October to Friday 23 October.

Monday Wordle

Monday’s IPC Week Wordle

Answer: SCRUB

Tuesday Wordle:

Tuesday’s IPC Week Wordle

Answer: CLEAN

Wednesday Wordle

Wednesday’s IPC Week Wordle

Answer: VIRAL

Thursday Wordle

Thursday’s IPC Week Wordle

Answer: SPORE

Friday Wordle

Friday’s IPC Week Wordle

Answer: GLOVE

Downloadable Resources:

We’ve produced these resources for you to download and use in your professional communications.

IPC Week 2026 Email Signature Banner

IPC Week 2026 Zoom/Teams Background

Enter our competition to win!

Share a photo of your team celebrating IPC Week and you could win a beautiful, custom-engraved trophy and an ACIPC showbag.

Post a photo of your team celebrating IPC Week 2026 and tag us #ACIPC to go into the draw, or email your photo/s to office@acipc.org.au

The winner will receive a beautiful custom-engraved trophy and an ACIPC show bag.

Competition closed Wednesday 28 October 2026!

Further Reading

Past:

Past to Present:

  • Loveday H, Wilson J. Pandemic preparedness and the role of infection prevention and control—how do we learn? J Infect Prev. 2021 Mar;22(2):55-7. doi: 10.1177/17571774211001040.
  • Basseal JM, Bennett CM, Collignon P, Currie BJ, Durrheim DN, Leask J, et al. Key lessons from the COVID-19 public health response in Australia. Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2023 Jan;30:100616. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100616.
  • World Health Organization. Guidelines on core components of infection prevention and control programmes at the national and acute health care facility level [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016 [cited 2026 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241549929

Present:

  • World Health Organization. Evidence of hand hygiene as the building block for infection prevention and control [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 [cited 2026 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-HIS-SDS-2017.7
  • Freeman J, Dawson L, Jowitt DM, White M, Callard H, Sieczkowski C, et al. The impact of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand programme on hand hygiene practices in New Zealand’s public hospitals. N Z Med J [Internet]. 2016 Oct 14 [cited 2026 Oct 15];129(1443):67-76. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27736854/

Present – Protected:

Protected: