Nkwan Jacob is a nurse working with the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, in Cameroon. He has 19 years of experience in infection prevention and control (IPC) as well as in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). He served as the pioneer IPC/WASH nurse and chair of the IPC committee of Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH) from 2002 to 2007, and then as IPC supervisor and chair of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services CBCHS) IPC committee from 2011 to 2019.

As the lead IPC nurse, he conceived and implemented several IPC/WASH projects that raised IPC/WASH practices in BBH and other facilities of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services to acceptable standards. The introduction of local ABHR production and improvement in hand hygiene practices in general led to the successful elimination of neonatal sepsis in the maternity unit of BBH in 2006. ABHR, now used in all the health facilities of the CBCHS, has contributed significantly to improved hand hygiene practices in all the facilities of the CBC Health Services.

Nkwan Jacob and his team have received several national and international awards including the third IFIC sponsorship award in 2004, OXIOID infection control team of the year in 2006, CBCHS cleanest hospital award in 2006, APIC International Ambassador Award in 2018 as well as the SHEA Hero of Infection Control in 2019.

He is a current member of several IPC and professional associations including:

• Infection Prevention and Control Association of Cameroon
• Infection Control African Network (ICAN)
• Infection Prevention and Control Association (IPAC) of Canada
• Association of Professional in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
• Society for Health Care Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
• Cameroon Bioethics Association (CAMBIN)
• Cameroon Nurses Association (CNA)

Nkwan Jacob has a bachelor’s degree in Nursing Sciences from the University of Buea and a master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Roehampton. He is currently doing a post graduate course in infection prevention and control with the University of Radboud, Netherlands. He has published several articles.