- In South African hospitals, about 8 out of 10 superbugs are resistant to at least one last-resort antibiotic, while 93% produced enzymes that can break down these medicines, leaving clinicians with very limited treatment options.
- The Quality Management & Patient Safety Indaba on 8 October at WHX in Johannesburg will examine how hospitals can close infection-prevention gaps through stronger training, surveillance, accreditation and antimicrobial stewardship.
The growing threat of drug-resistant infections is prompting South African and African hospitals to strengthen infection prevention and control, while the healthcare sector invests in the equipment, supplies and systems needed to support safer care.
The South African hospital supplies market is projected to grow from roughly USD 0.96 billion in 2025 to USD 1.39 billion by 2031, with infection-control disposables already the largest single revenue category and sterilisation and disinfectant equipment the fastest-growing segment.
Disposables (gloves, masks, drapes, gowns, syringes and other single-use items) accounted for 37.68% of the market in 2025, driven by mandatory infection-control compliance and compliance-driven orders. Sterilisation and disinfectant equipment is forecast to advance at a 7.78% CAGR through 2031, as facilities tighten hygiene protocols, upgrade autoclaves and improve the reprocessing of reusable equipment.
This shift in spending reflects the growing need to prevent infections before they become harder to treat and is a key theme of the Quality Management & Patient Safety Indaba on 8 October as part of WHX in Johannesburg, which runs from 6 – 8 October at the Gallagher Convention Centre, as part of a broader programme bringing together thousands of healthcare leaders, innovators and suppliers from across Africa and beyond.
The scale of the problem is underscored by national surveillance data showing that, in 2023, almost 75% of Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream isolates in South Africa were ESBL-producing, meaning they could resist many standard antibiotics.
This investment pattern reflects a strategic shift: hospitals are prioritising reliable, recurring IPC consumables while simultaneously upgrading core sterilisation capacity to reduce reprocessing failures and cross-contamination risks in the face of escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Despite increased spending, significant infection prevention and control gaps remain. Professor Sabelile Tenza, patient safety expert, researcher and Associate Professor of Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality at North-West University, who will chair the WHX Quality Management & Patient Safety Indaba, said: “South African hospitals face severe infection prevention and control gaps driven by critical staffing shortages, outdated and poorly ventilated infrastructure, and inconsistent supply chain supplies. These deficits, combined with inadequate management support and training, result in compliance rates as low as 11% in certain areas and compromise patient safety.”
“Healthcare providers must prioritise continuous infection prevention training, ensure reliable resource allocation, and implement ward-specific tracking to curb the spread of infections,” Tenza added.
Accreditation and quality management frameworks are increasingly being used to hard-wire these priorities into daily practice. Jacqui Stewart, CEO of the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA), noted: “Accreditation standards assist healthcare teams to put in place systems and processes to manage the use of medicines, monitor effectiveness and develop antimicrobial stewardship programmes. Accreditation and quality management frameworks enforce accountability and help to standardise expected frontline practices.”
In the South African context, COHSASA’s standards and related quality frameworks support healthcare facilities in implementing antimicrobial stewardship programmes, setting clear governance and prescribing processes, monitoring medicine use and embedding infection prevention requirements into organisational policies and performance metrics. Regular internal and external assessments also help facilities identify gaps in IPC, medication safety and quality systems, and track improvements over time.
The Quality Management & Patient Safety Indaba at WHX, in partnership with COHSASA, will explore how these approaches can help healthcare providers raise standards and reduce risk. It forms part of a wider WHX programme that includes the Healthcare Excellence Indaba on 6 October, focused on hospital infrastructure and system leadership, and the Labs Leadership Indaba on 7 October, in partnership with the National Health Laboratory Service, focused on diagnostics, automation and laboratory networks.
WHX will feature 13 national and regional country pavilions showcasing local manufacturers, distributors and technology providers, reflecting growing intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and a push to strengthen continental healthcare supply chains. More than 600 exhibitors from 60+ countries will also highlight advances in sterilisation and disinfection technologies, digital surveillance tools for antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections, point-of-care diagnostics, and integrated quality management platforms that link accreditation requirements to frontline data.
The WHX portfolio includes three key healthcare events in Africa, held in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg, forming a single route to market, connecting global brands with regional distributors across Africa. WHX also sits alongside major continental health convenings, including the Africa Health ExCon (AHEC) in Egypt and the Africa CDC’s Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), creating a complementary ecosystem where policy, procurement and commercial capability reinforce one another.
WHX 2026 in Johannesburg takes place from 6–8 October at Gallagher Convention Centre. Healthcare professionals and industry stakeholders can register to attend at: https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/healthcare/johannesburg/attend/registration-lp/
