HYDERABAD: Over the last couple of years, the importance of washing hands regularly, and taking care of hand hygiene has become pivotal due to the pandemic. Every year on May 5, a global healthcare event — World Hand Hygiene Day is observed with the intent to unite people worldwide to increase awareness about hand hygiene standards in healthcare facilities, thereby protecting healthcare workers and civilians from infections.
According to Dr Prashanth Chandra, Consultant Internal Medicine, CARE Hospitals, Banjara Hills, World Hand Hygiene Day is a reminder of the importance of good hand hygiene. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says life is better with clean hands. “Parents need to be the leaders when it comes to ensuring that their children know the importance of clean hands. Clean hands are essential for preventing and controlling the spread of disease.
Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs), diseases caused by bacterial spread, and the development of antibiotic resistance can all be prevented by diligent hand washing. Worldwide, Infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals continue to face the dilemma of low patient compliance rates with hand hygiene measures. Hand washing is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting ill or spreading germs. So, education about the risks and benefits associated with hand washing can considerably reduce the number of people who get sick and even die from infectious diseases. Washing hands with soap under running water is the simplest technique which kills the germs and prevents gastric as well as respiratory infections like flu and diarrhea,” explains Dr Prashanth Chandra.
The 2023 campaign theme is ‘Together we can accelerate action to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance in healthcare, and build a culture of safety and quality in which hand hygiene improvement is given a high priority’.
“It is during the recent pandemic, the emphasis of hand wash hygiene has been broadly propagated. Studies also suggest there has been a significant decrease in the contamination and spread of virus by frequent hand washing among hospital staff."
"Though the practice of handwashing has been a common thing in the medical fraternity during surgical procedures and patient visits, it is during the recent Covid-19 times that people also started having inculcated this into their regular routine adding to a decrease in the spread of viral infections in children and bacterial infections in adults."
"WHO recommends the ‘5 Moments for Hand Hygiene’ to strengthen and empower communities of actors in health care to accelerate action to improve hand hygiene and infection prevention and control at the point of care,” says Dr S Ravindra Kumar MBBS, MD (General Medicine) Consultant Physician, Amor Hospitals.
TIPS:
Wash hands with soap and water, preferably liquid soap as bar soap has higher chance of harvesting harmful organisms, while washing hands make sure to interlace your fingers as the space between fingers are great reservoir of organisms, drying the hands is equally important and of course not with a soiled or wet napkin.