[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/world-hand-hygiene-day-5-may-action-sav... ]
Dear Jules and all, (thanks also to Claire Kilpatrick)
"World Hand Hygiene Day [is] an opportunity to reaffirm that improving hand hygiene depends not only on products and protocols, but on ensuring that healthcare workers everywhere have access to the reliable information they need to act at the right moment, every time, in the pursuit of quality healthcare outcomes."
Yes. In the last couple of days I have learned (through the WHO Integrated Health Services Hub) that there are two complementary WHO guidelines on hand hygiene:
WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care (2009)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241597906
Guidelines on hand hygiene in community settings (2025)
https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/2b52c0e4-8bb4-4d5a-9caf-...
For anyone with an interest in this topic, WHO and UNICEF are co-hosting a free teleclass on the new guideline (hand hygiene in community settings) on 28 April https://webbertraining.com/event/new-who-unicef-global-guidelines-on-han...
There is also a new commentary in Journal of Hospital Infection - free to access until end of May.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195670126000691?dgci...
The guidelines represent the culmination of the first three pillars of the global evidence ecosystem (research; journal publication; evidence synthesis). These components are robust, at least at the global level. It would be interesting for us to host a HIFA discussion to explore evidence synthesis and national guidelines at country level, as well as the other three pillars in the ecosystem: repackaging, availing and applying evidence. We invite sponsorship (£500) to host a 1-week exploration of these issues on the HIFA forum.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org