Today is World Hand Hygiene Day 2022

May 5, 2022

Today (Thursday 5 May) is World Hand Hygiene Day and it’s the perfect time to remind everyone that now more than ever, it is vitally important to clean your hands!

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective actions to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including COVID-19, and is fundamental to infection prevention and control.

Your hands are the main pathway of germ transmission. Hand hygiene is therefore one of the most important measures to avoid the transmission of coronavirus. It is important to wash your hands thoroughly and more often, for at least 20 seconds each time with water and soap or hand gel.

Colleagues are advised to follow the 5 moments of hand washing:

1. Before touching a patient
2. Before clean/aseptic procedures
3. After body fluid exposure/risk
4. After touching a patient
5. After touching patient surroundings.

Watch this short video to remind yourself of the how to effectively wash your hands.