This year, the campaign theme “SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands”, is aligned with the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, and aims to recognize nurses and midwives as front-line heroes who deserve acknowledgement and appreciation, and highlight their critical roles in infection prevention.
2020 Campaign Objectives
The main goal of the Global Hand Hygiene Day campaign is to recognize that hand washing is one of the most effective actions you can take to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus. Health workers and community members alike can play a role in preventing infections by practicing regular and frequent hand washing.
As part of the 2020 campaign, WHO and partners aim to:
- Make hand hygiene a global priority
- Inspire hand hygiene and behavior change
- Engage with health care workers in their role in clean care and the prevention of infections.
The campaign also makes a call to action to policy-makers to provide safe work environments for nurses and improve staffing levels. Additionally, it calls on infection prevention and control leaders to empower nurses and midwives in providing clean care. The campaign also contributes to the United Nations Secretary General’s Global Call to Action on WASH in health care facilities.
Why is Hand Hygiene so important in preventing infections, including COVID-19?
Why is it important to participate in the WHO global hand hygiene campaign for the fight against COVID-19?
• The WHO global hand hygiene campaign SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands mobilizes people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene in health care facilities, thus protecting health care workers and patient from COVID-19 and other pathogens.
• Nurses and other health care workers are the front-line heroes saving lives from COVID-19. In alignment with the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, the global hand hygiene campaign 2020 recognizes their critical role in the prevention of infections.
• The campaign also contributes to the United Nations Secretary’s General’s Global Call to Action on WASH in health care facilities.
Follow the 5 May 2020 SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands here: https://www.who.int/infection-prevention/campaigns/clean-hands/en/
• Hand Hygiene is one of the most effective actions you can take
to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus.
• Community members can play a critical role in fighting COVID-19
by adopting frequent hand hygiene as part of their day-to-day
practices.
Source: WHO