The Global Handwashing Day is annually observed across the world on 15th October to raise awareness about the importance of handwashing with soap and water as a way to prevent disease.
- The theme for Global Handwashing Day 2022 is “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene.”
i.The day provides aplatform to accelerate hand hygiene progress at a system level.
ii.It’s estimated that proper handwashing could reduce diarrheal illnesses by up to 45% and respiratory infections by up to 25%.
Background:
i.Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) initiated the observance of the Global Handwashing Day across the globe on 15th October of every year.
ii.The first ever Global Handwashing Day was observed in 2008.
Event objectives include:
- Showcase new tools to assess country progress, including the Hand Hygiene Progress Tracker and the Hand Hygiene Enabling Environment Assessment Framework
- Share examples from countries at multiple stages of this process, focusing on challenges, lessons learned, and proposed actions to sustain progress
- Make the case for long-term hand hygiene financing to support countries in achieving universal hand hygiene
Add about Hand Hygiene
i. In 2020, WHO (World Health Organization) published a global report on the epidemiology and burden of sepsis which includes a new section on health care-associated sepsis.
ii.According to the WHO report, Hand hygiene improvement programmes can prevent up to 50% avoidable infections acquired during health care delivery and generate economic savings on average 16 times the cost of implementation.
One liner about World Hand Hygiene Day 2022 May 5
WHO’s World Hand Hygiene Day WHHD) was observed annually on 5 May to raise awareness of hand hygiene among the masses.
- The theme for WHHD 2022 was “Health Care Quality and Safety Climate or Culture”.
Initiative of Global Handwashing Day 2022:
i.The Ministry of Education (MoE) observed Global Handwashing Day with the theme “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene” to highlight the significance of hand washing with soap, which is critical for prevention of transmission of Covid-19.
ii.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will be conducting school level activities and competitions like painting, quiz, essay writing, seminars/ webinars to encourage students towards maintaining proper hand hygiene.
