World Hand Hygiene Day: �SAVE LIVES - Clean Your Hands�

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Highlights:

• Hand hygiene is one of the most important measures in infection prevention and control
• Even the COVID-19 pandemic also gave us a better understanding of the importance of hand hygiene
• To prioritize hand washing, the World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting World Hand Hygiene Day every year on 5th May

The World Health Organization (WHO) reminds people around the world of the importance of hand hygiene on May 5 every year and calls on all people from all walks of life to join in the celebration of World Hand Hygiene Day (1^✔).

World Hand Hygiene Day is a global campaign was started in 2009 to maintain the promotion, visibility, and sustainability of hand hygiene in health care and to bring people across the globe together in support of hand hygiene improvement around the world. The five fingers in a hand was chosen as the symbol of world hand hygiene day (2^✔).

Fight Strong Against Germs with Clean Hands

Hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC) in healthcare facilities protect the health and safety of patients and health workers. Less than 200 years ago, the majority of experts still believed that diseases spread via germs.

‘World Hand Hygiene Day observed on May 5th, calls for the joint creation of an environment where hand hygiene and infection prevention and control are valued and taken seriously’

Today, no one believes in the existence of germs. Bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens can be dangerous to us in the present scenario, and hands play an essential role in their spread. Even the COVID-19 pandemic showed the role of hand hygiene in the prevention of disease transmission.

Promote A Safe and Quality Climate with Good Hand Hygiene

Good hand hygiene not only ensures clean hands but also creates an organizational climate in which value is placed on safety and infection prevention. This can only be achieved by working together.

This is why this year's World Hand Hygiene Day's motto is Unite for safety - Clean Your Hands! By practicing good hand hygiene, we set an example for others. In this way, you set in motion a chain reaction against chains of infection. The more people who work together for this goal, the better the outcome (3^✔).

Clean Facts

• Adequate hand hygiene can prevent up to 50% of hospital-acquired infections.
• 1 in 4 health facilities globally lacks a basic water supply - affecting the health care of 1.8 billion people.
• Even in high-income countries, hand hygiene compliance rarely exceeds 70%.
• In Europe, 8.9 million nosocomial infections occur annually in acute and long-term care facilities (4^✔).

Five Principles for Hand Hygiene

Experts have developed five guiding principles that help hand hygiene to prevent infections (5^✔):

1. Hand hygiene is not just hand washing, skincare, and gloves also play a big part.
2. It is also important to clean hands correctly by completely wetting the hands and rubbing them until dry.
3. For healthcare workers, hand washing is not an alternative to hand disinfection; both are important for them.
4. Healthy skin is key for effective hand hygiene and so take good care of your hands.
5. Gloves serve to protect both the healthcare worker and the treated patient from infection but are not an absolute barrier to pathogens.

Feel free to spread your knowledge, as well as celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day in your facilities and on social media.

Upload your selfie to your social media channels using the hashtag #HandHygiene #UniteForSafety #TogetherStrongAgainstGerms #MissionInfectionPrevention and mention @WHO.

Join the world hand hygiene celebration and create an organizational climate in which hand hygiene and infection prevention are lived as essential components today and in the future.

Don't forget to wash your hands!!!! References:

1. Pan American Health Organization. World Hand Hygiene Day 2023 - (https:www.paho.org/en/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day-2023)
2. World Health Organization. World Hand Hygiene Day - (https:www.who.int/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day)
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings - (https:www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/index.html)
4. Minnesota Department of Health. Hand Hygiene for Health Professionals - (https:www.health.state.mn.us/people/handhygiene/hcp/index.html)
5. Clean your hands often! - (https:apic.org/monthly_alerts/clean-your-hands-often/)

Source: Medindia

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