World Hand Hygiene Day campaign objectives: To recognize that people of all levels should work together to influence the culture/climate through clean hands knowledge and behaviour, to meet the common goal of safety and quality in the health care organization.

Hand hygiene, hand washing or handwashing is the act of cleaning one’s hands with soap or handwash and water to remove viruses/bacteria/microorganisms, dirt, grease, or other harmful and unwanted substances stuck to the hands. Drying of the washed hands is part of the process as wet and moist hands are more easily recontaminated. If soap and water are unavailable, hand sanitizer that is at least 60% (v/v) alcohol in water can be used instead, unless hands are visibly excessively dirty or greasy. Hand hygiene is central to preventing the spread of infectious diseases in home and everyday life settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends washing hands for at least 20 seconds before and after certain activities. These include the five critical times during the day where washing hands with soap is important to reduce fecal-oral transmission of disease: after using the toilet (for urination, defecation, menstrual hygiene), after cleaning a child’s bottom (changing nappies), before feeding a child, before eating and before/after preparing food or handling raw meat, fish, or poultry. When both hand washing and using hand sanitizer are not available, hands can be cleaned with uncontaminated ash and clean water, although the benefits and harms are uncertain for reducing the spread of viral or bacterial infections. However, frequent hand washing can lead to skin damage due to drying of the skin. Moisturizing lotion is often recommended to keep the hands from drying out; dry skin can lead to skin damage which can increase the risk for the transmission of infection.

2024 Theme: Promoting knowledge and capacity building of health and care workers through innovative and impactful training and education, on infection prevention and control, including hand hygiene.  

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World Hand Hygiene Day