Global Handwashing Day, celebrated every year on October 15th, was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership. This day represents an opportunity to implement creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times. We dedicate this day to advocating for handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. Improving hand hygiene is a crucial part of effective infection prevention and control, and as such, it becomes a key priority for patient and health worker safety.
The first Global Handwashing Day was held in the year 2008. On October 15th 2008, over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since then, healthcare community leaders have used Global Handwashing Day to spread the word about handwashing, build sinks and taps, and advocate the simplicity and value of clean hands.
Global Handwashing Day is endorsed across the globe by governments, schools, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies, individuals, and more. The 2022 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene.”
Inequalities in handwashing facilities and effective handwashing promotion programs can put individuals at higher risk for diseases that impact their health, education, and economic outcomes. This year’s theme reminds us that we must be united when addressing the need for enforcing handwashing measures. Taking into account the learnings from recent years, the time to accelerate hand hygiene progress is now! With a collective and united effort, we can enact real change.
- A soapy wash of the hands is simple.
Everyone can safeguard themselves, their families, and their communities by simply washing their hands with soap after each use. Even though it only needs a little soap and water, the advantages are substantial.
- Washing your hands with soap works well.
Handwashing with soap can significantly lower the risk of diarrhoea and pneumonia, which can result in serious disease and death, when it is practised routinely at critical moments, such as after using the restroom or before contact with food. Additionally, cleaning your hands with soap can help stop the transmission of diseases like Covid-19, Ebola and the flu.
- Washing your hands with soap is inexpensive.
The availability of soap varied little or not at all across the 51 countries studied in a 2017 review that examined proxy measures of handwashing behaviour in Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic & Health Surveys between 2010 and 2013. This suggests that the availability of soap is almost universal. Cost is not the main deterrent to handwashing with soap, even though the world’s poorest households are less likely to have access to it.
The majority of people worldwide can afford detergent to create soapy water or multipurpose soap bars. When soap is available, many homes choose to use it for bathing, dishwashing, and laundry instead of handwashing. Investments in handwashing promotion are very cost-effective and can enhance the health effects of other initiatives, including improving nutrition and facilitating access to clean water and sanitary infrastructure.
At MWT Global Academy we practice and promote hand washing, and the correct method of handwashing is taught in all our courses as part of infection control practices.
Moments of handwashing in a healthcare setting
5 Moments for Hand Hygiene
- before touching a patient,
- before clean/aseptic procedures,
- after body fluid exposure/risk,
- after touching a patient, and.
- after touching the patient surroundings.
No matter what your role is, you can celebrate Global Handwashing Day and spread the good word about the importance of maintaining clean hands. All over the world, hand washing should become an educational priority. By laying added emphasis on infection control, giving the responsibility of infection control to each and everyone in the institution, and implementing measures for continuous monitoring, we can enforce hand hygiene and save lives.
As the world moves beyond COVID-19, we must unite for universal hand hygiene. At MWT Global Academy, we do all we can to spread awareness about the importance of maintaining hand hygiene, and celebrate Global Handwashing Day not just on this day, but every day!