Each year, on the 5th of May, we commemorate World Hand Hygiene Day in support of healthcare workers worldwide.
Hand hygiene is the cornerstone of safe healthcare, offering a formidable shield against healthcare-associated infections. It safeguarding patients, healthcare professionals, and entire communities. It is relevant to all health workers, patients and their families - at every single healthcare encounter. It is fundamental to the safety and efficacy of our health care systems.
Infection prevention and control, of which hand hygiene is paramount, lies at the heart of safe healthcare systems. Our concerted efforts in this regard not only contribute to quality universal health coverage but also support the agendas of water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) agendas.
Unfortunately, statistics reveal a stark reality: approximately 70% of healthcare workers and 50% of surgical teams do not routinely practice hand hygiene protocols. This is despite overwhelming evidence demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing healthcare-associated infections.
Around the world, compliance with hand hygiene standards during health care delivery is sub-optimal. There is an average compliance of only 59.6% in intensive care units (as of 2018), with extreme differences between high income and low-income countries (64.5% vs 9.1%).
Clearly, there is much work to be done to address this.
This year, we corn mit ourselves to promote the knowledge and skills of health and care workers. We corn mit to do this through innovative and impactful training and education on infection prevention and control.
We have many key resources and other relevant information available online on this crucial topic:
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day/world-hand-hygiene-day-2024
Key resources on hand hygiene:
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day/key-resources-on-hand-hygiene
I urge each of you to delve into the resources provided, rally behind our cause, and join us in spreading the message that clean hands save lives.