Guidance on WASH and health - World Health Organization (WHO) Hygiene is multi-faceted and comprises many behaviours, including hand- and face washing, menstrual hygiene and food hygiene Hand washing with soap at crucial events such as after visiting the toilet, defecating or before preparing food was estimated to be a poorly practised behaviour globally
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) - World Health Organization (WHO) Safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene are crucial to human health and well-being Safe WASH is not only a prerequisite to health, but contributes to livelihoods, school attendance and dignity and helps to create resilient communities living in healthy environments
World Hand Hygiene Day 2025 - World Health Organization (WHO) Promote optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) and the times for appropriate glove use within the health care workflow Promote inclusion of hand hygiene within national IPC strategies , as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs) at facility level , according to the
Infection prevention and control - World Health Organization (WHO) The solution Most HAIs are preventable through hand hygiene performed at the right times The WHO Guidelines on hand hygiene in health care outline hand hygiene recommendations and are complemented by the WHO Multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy, the Guide to implementation, and an implementation toolkit, which contains many ready-to-use practical tools
WHO global water, sanitation and hygiene: annual report 2023 This report summarizes the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global work on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) during 2023 It describes how the Organization continued to deliver its essential WASH programming as elaborated in its 2018–2025 strategy
Hand Hygiene for All Global Initiative - World Health Organization (WHO) This WHO and UNICEF-led initiative calls for countries to lay out comprehensive roadmaps that bridge together national COVID-19 preparedness and response plans with mid- and long-term national development plans to ensure hand hygiene is a mainstay beyond the pandemic, as part of infection prevention and control (IPC) and water, sanitation and
Gloves do not replace hand hygiene – reminder from WHO Hand hygiene is one of the most effective, affordable and universal tools we have to prevent the transmission of infections and provide high-quality, clean and safe medical care While medical gloves serve a vital role in preventing transmission of infection, for example when there is risk of exposure to blood and body fluids, they are not a
World Hand Hygiene Day - 5 May 2025 #handhygiene It might be gloves, it's always hand hygiene By 2026, hand hygiene compliance monitoring and feedback should be established as a key national indicator, at the very least in all reference hospitals Currently 68% of countries report they are doing this World Hand Hygiene Day in 2025 coincides with the need for countries to rapidly consider implementation of the global action plan and
Key facts and figures - World Health Organization (WHO) Accelerating hand hygiene action depends on water, sanitation and hygiene services Yet globally, half of all health care facilities still lack basic hand hygiene facilities at the point of care Investing in such services requires awareness and leadership and will result in important economic and health gains
Hand Hygiene: Why, How When? - World Health Organization (WHO) Hand hygiene is therefore the most important measure to avoid the transmission of harmful germs and prevent health care-associated infections This brochure explains how and when to practice hand hygiene