World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) is annually observed across the globe on 5th May to maintain global promotion, visibility, and sustainability of hand hygiene in health care.
- The day also aims to unite people to support hand hygiene improvement around the world.
- The observance of World Hand Hygiene Day is annually led by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The campaign theme of WHHD 2022 & Theme of WHHD 2022 is “a health care ‘quality and safety climate or culture’ that values hand hygiene and infection prevention and control”.
Background:
WHO launched the “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” global annual campaign in 2009, which is celebrated as World Hand Hygiene Day on 5th May to further the goal of maintaining a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in health care.
SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands 2022:
i.The campaign aims to recognize that people of all levels should work together to influence the culture/climate through ‘clean hands’ knowledge and behaviour.
ii.It also aims to achieve the common goal of safety and quality in the health care organization.
- Campaign slogan is “Unite for safety: clean your hands”.
SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands:
i.SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands is an extension of the WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care work, which is now the WHO Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) global unit.
ii.The campaign, led by WHO to support healthcare workers, is a part of the global effort to improve hand hygiene in healthcare.
Significance of Hand Hygiene:
i.Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) has included hand hygiene as a fundamental to safe and effective health care systems.
ii.Hand hygiene contributes to quality universal health coverage, meeting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.8. It also supports the agendas of Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and Global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
