World Hand Hygiene Day 2021: Seconds Save Lives – Clean Your Hands!
Today is World Hand Hygiene Day – clean healthcare is among the most urgent challenges identified by the United Nations to be addressed by the global community in the next 10 years, and is highly relevant in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as fighting against infections, sepsis, and, most prominently in the last year, COVID-19.
For World Hand Hygiene Day 2021, the World Health Organization calls on healthcare workers and facilities to achieve effective hand hygiene action at the point of care. The point of care refers to the place where three elements come together: the patient, the health care worker, and care or treatment involving contact with the patient or their surroundings - see graphic to the right.
Please join us in celebrating World Hand Hygiene Day today. Join the official ‘faces of the campaign initiative, share the official campaign video (embedded below) with your friends and colleagues, get involved on social media, or register your institution, if you have not done so already.
Although 80% of sepsis cases are contracted outside of the hospital (see video below), hand hygiene plays a critical role in the prevention of infections, and therefore the prevention of sepsis.
Consequently, the WHO and the GSA urge all healthcare institutions, all health workers, as well as all policymakers and other stakeholders to address hand hygiene, infection prevention and control, and sepsis holistically as pillars of a coordinated strategy.
There are between 47 and 50 million cases of sepsis every year worldwide, with 11 million deaths per year. 20% of all worldwide deaths per year are associated with sepsis, including most from SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19.
In May 2017, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of sepsis, spearheaded by the Global Sepsis Alliance.