Helping reduce the number of sick days in day care centres

We are managing an innovation consortium studying the efficiency and safety of present and future cleaning products. The consortium is examining whether specific cleaning methods and cleaning aids can reduce the spread of infections in children’s day care centres.

In day care centres around the world, one thing is a certainty: children get sick. The frequency at which they fall ill can be costly to society as a whole, as parents take time off to care for their sick children.

With a consortium of academia, industry, day care centres and the communes of Copenhagen and Nyborg, we are examining ways to reduce the number of sick days of children in day care. The project (supported by the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education), focuses on improving hygiene, cleaning and disinfection routines in Danish day cares.

Since January 2010, we have been researching the connection between the microbiological environment and the rate of infectious diseases among children in day care centres. As part of a PhD at Rigshospitalet, we are testing the effects of cleaning, disinfection, and hand hygiene on the number of sick days for children in 23 day care centres over a four-year period.

In doing so, we hope to map the critical spots in the chain of infection. Based on this information, we will help develop new methods to test the efficiency of disinfection. These methods will contribute to a National Standard on cleaning and disinfection in day care centres.

The results will deliver valuable information to companies producing cleaning aids, as well as to private and public cleaning departments and companies. The project will also provide important information to the public on how to reduce the spread of infections.