In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global campaign to promote the implementation of hand hygiene, in all health care settings, as an integral part of Patient Safety -FirstGlobalPatientSafetyChallengeCleanCareisSaferCare -.
This year's WHO slogan. The 5th of May, has been established as World Hand Hygiene Day to remind us that hand hygiene is the simplest and most effective prevention measure.
Infections in healthcare settings pose a risk to patient safety, as they have been shown to be associated with prolonged inpatient hospitalization, increased mortality and morbidity, physical and emotional suffering of patients, increased antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics and high economic costs. Since the main mode of transmission of infections is through the hands, proper hand hygiene helps to reduce the transmission of pathogens and has been recognised as the most important measure for the prevention of nosocomial infections.
The specific objectives of this year's campaign include: a) strengthening and empowering health professionals to accelerate their actions to improve hand hygiene and to prevent and control infections at the point of care and b) promoting good collaboration to achieve the common goal of minimising nosocomial infections and antimicrobial resistance.
The implementation of hand hygiene is necessary, simple and this has been documented by many studies internationally. It is recognized that increasing health care professionals' compliance with hand hygiene is a key criterion for quality of health care services and an ongoing challenge to achieve. Therefore, every health professional is encouraged to actively participate in the strategy of implementing hand hygiene to create the necessary work culture.
In conclusion, always aiming to defend the health and safety of all patients, the Ministry of Health of Cyprus intensifies and supports its efforts to raise the awareness of both health professionals and the general public on the importance of hand hygiene, in accordance with the WHO guidelines. Together we can all strengthen action to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance to provide safer and better quality health care.
(DK)
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