Health for all – It’s in your hands

As a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Private Organisations for Patient Safety group, skin health and surface hygiene specialist,GOJO Industries-Europe, is a strong supporter of the WHO’s annual ‘Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’ campaign and is encouraging everybody in the healthcare industry to get involved.

The worldwide advocacy day takes place on 5 May 2019. This year, the campaign highlights the importance that hand hygiene plays in the global movement to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), i.e. securing better health and well-being for all people at all ages. Infection Prevention and Control, including hand hygiene, is critical to accomplish UHC, being a practical and evidence-based approach, with demonstrated impact on quality of care and patient safety across all levels of the health system.

The annual campaign and advocacy day targets a cross-section of influencers in the global healthcare sector. This year’s calls to action are:

• Health workers: “Champion clean care – it’s in your hands.”
• IPC leaders: “Monitor infection prevention and control standards – take action and improve practices.”
• Health facility leaders: “Is your facility up to WHO infection control and hand hygiene standards? Take part in the WHO survey 2019 and take action!”
• Ministries of health: “Does your country meet infection prevention and control standards? Monitor and act to achieve quality universal health coverage.”
• Patient advocacy groups: “Ask for clean care – it’s your right.”

Chris Wakefield, Vice President, European Marketing & Product Development, GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd commented: “We are a strong advocate of the ‘total solution’ approach to making hand hygiene second nature to everyone in a healthcare setting, and encourage everyone to help spread the vital message about how hand hygiene can help achieve ‘Health for All’.

Free advocacy toolkits to support the WHO Save Lives: Clean Your Hands campaign are available on the WHO website: http://www.who.int/infection-prevention/campaigns/clean-hands/en/

WHO invites everyone to use the hashtags #HandHygiene, #InfectionPrevention #HealthForAll on social media to ensure Save Lives: Clean Your Hands posts are picked up by the campaign.