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National Infection Prevention and Control Manual

National Infection Prevention and Control Manual

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5th May - WHO Hand hygiene day 2021 - Seconds save lives – clean your hands!

30 Apr 2021

For World Hand Hygiene Day 2021, WHO calls on health care 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.

To be effective and prevent transmission of infectious microorganisms during health care delivery, hand hygiene should be performed when it is needed (at 5 specific moments) and in the most effective way (by using the right technique with readily available products) at the point of care. This can be achieved by using the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy.

The calls to action this year for healthcare workers is 'Now more than ever -
clean your hands at the point of care!' and for IPC practitioners 'Be a champion and mentor for clean hands at the point of care.'

A hand hygiene day web page is available providing links to hand hygiene technique and moments for hand hygiene posters.