World Hand Hygiene Day
The 'Save Lives: Clean Your Hands' global campaign was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009. World Hand Hygiene Day is held annually on 5 May.
World Hand Hygiene Day aims to maintain global promotion, visibility and sustainability of hand hygiene in health care and to bring people together in support of hand hygiene improvement around the world.
Overview
On World Hand Hygiene Day the WHO calls for healthcare workers, patients, consumers and the broader community, to clean their hands and unite together to support a culture of safety and quality in our health service organisations.
To promote hand hygiene in the healthcare community, the Commission has produced three new factsheets on hand hygiene. These factsheets provide information on hand hygiene for patients and their carers, children and their carers, and mental health workers.
Infographics
The following infographics are available for download for use in your local World Hand Hygiene Day activities:
National hand hygiene audit data
Hand hygiene compliance is assessed against a national benchmark set by the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council; the current national benchmark is 80%. There are three national hand hygiene audits conducted each year.
The latest interactive report on audit data is now available.
If your organisation submits data to the HHCApp, you can also produce your own local poster report.
What can you do to support World Hand Hygiene Day?
In addition to supporting implementation of the National Hand Hygiene Initiative in health service organisations, everyone can contribute to effective hand hygiene:
| Healthcare workers |
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|---|---|
| Infection prevention and control practitioners |
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| Health service organisation managers |
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| Patients and families |
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| Everyone |
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