World Hand Hygiene Day

Background

As part of a major global effort to improve hand hygiene in health care, led by World Health Organisation (WHO) to support health-care workers, the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands annual global campaign was launched in 2009. 

Every year, May 5 is being celebrated as the World Hand Hygiene Day.

Theme for 2022 - Unite for safety: clean your hands

This year's theme for World Hand Hygiene Day, 5 May 2022, is focused on recognizing that we can add to a facility's climate or culture of safety and quality through cleaning our hands but also that a strong quality and safety culture will encourage people to clean hands at the right times and with the right products.

When a health facility's "quality and safety climate or culture" values hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC), this results in both patients and health workers feeling protected and cared for. 

To prioritize clean hands in health facilities, people at all levels need to believe in the importance of hand hygiene and IPC to save lives, by acting as key players in achieving the appropriate behaviours and attitudes towards it. In other words, health workers at all levels and people accessing health care facilities need to unite on ensuring clean hands.

Unite, talk and work together on hand hygiene for high quality safer care everywhere.

Campaign objectives

To recognize that people of all levels should work together to influence the culture/climate through clean hands knowledge and behaviour, to meet the common goal of safety and quality in the health care organization.

Source : WHO