National Trends in Healthcare-Associated Infections and Evaluation of Infection Prevention and Control Policies in Uzbekistan (2015–2024)

Background/Objectives: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) disproportionately burden low- and middle-income countries, but no such description has been published for Uzbekistan. We describe national trends in reported HAIs over 2015–2024 with their regional and clinical distribution and review the country’s infection prevention and control (IPC) regulations against the eight World Health Organization (WHO) Core Components. Methods: We analysed the complete national series of reported HAI cases for 2015–2024 (ten annual counts; 817 cases in 2024, disaggregated by region and HAI type), with official population denominators. Trend was assessed by the Mann–Kendall test, log-linear average annual percentage change (AAPC) and the Theil–Sen slope estimator, with 2020 treated separately as pandemic-affected. The five binding national IPC instruments in force were reviewed against each Core Component using five pre-specified criteria. Results: Reported incidence fell from 3.95 to 2.16 per 100,000 population (45.3%; Mann–Kendall p = 0.007; Theil–Sen slope −0.186 per 100,000 per year, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.293 to −0.110). The fall in 2020 was isolated (1.00), with an underlying decline of about 6% per year otherwise (AAPC −6.36%, 95% CI −8.34 to −4.33). Tashkent city accounted for 31.7% of cases and had the highest incidence (8.19 per 100,000) and bed density; Jizzakh (3.55) and Navoi (3.44) had elevated incidence at close to average bed density. Surgical site infections were the most frequently reported HAI type (44.1%). Of the eight Core Components, one met all five criteria, six met some and one none; verification was the most frequent shortfall, absent for seven of eight. Conclusions: This is the first decade-long description of reported HAIs in Uzbekistan. Incidence declined substantially, but passive case-finding and the 2020 disruption mean the data cannot separate a fall in occurrence from a fall in detection. Standardised case definitions and facility-level denominators are the first priority among the eight corrective actions proposed.