Context:

• May 5 was World Hand Hygiene Day. This month, medical care centres across the world re-educate themselves about the importance of this one basic practice.
• The World Health Organization’s ‘Clean Hands Count’ campaign aims to improve healthcare providers’ adherence to hand hygiene recommendations.

• Healthcare-associated infections are drawing more attention. This is not only because of the magnitude of the problem in terms of associated morbidity, mortality and cost of treatment but also due to the growing recognition that most of these are preventable.
• The medical community is witnessing unprecedented advancements in understanding of pathophysiology of infectious diseases and the global spread of multi drug-resistant infections in healthcare set-ups. These factors have necessitated a relook into the role of basic practices of infection prevention in modern day health care.
• There is now undisputed evidence that strict adherence to hand hygiene reduces the risk of cross-transmission of infections.
• With ‘Clean Care is Safer Care’ as the prime agenda of the global initiative by the WHO on patient safety programmes, it is time for developing countries to formulate much-needed policies for implementation of basic infection prevention practices.
• A thorough disinfectant hand wash is necessary for everyone at all times and in all situations.
• Effective hand wash minimises the spread of potentially deadly germs. It also protects against secondary infections.
• Every patient is at risk of infection while under treatment and healthcare providers are at a risk of infection while treating patients. Hand wash is, therefore, an instant self-administered vaccine.
• Preventing the spread of germs is especially important in hospitals and other facilities like dialysis centres, ICUs, OPDs and wards.
• Washing your hands properly is one of the most important things you can do to help prevent and control the spread of illnesses.

• Analysis of the rate of device-associated infections across hospitals shows markedly higher rates of infection stemming from compromised basic hygiene.
• Rates of hospital-acquired infections and anti-microbial resistance are markedly higher in India than the rates reported by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading national public health institute in the United States.
• According to the World Health Organization, lack of public hygiene is the main cause of preventable illnesses such as malnutrition, cholera, and diarrhoea [diarrhoea alone kills three lakh people per year].

• The best and most effective way to address the situation is awareness, education and action.
• The government has undertaken several initiatives towards this. 
• Hand hygiene is practised by healthcare providers and encouraged among attendants and patients to prevent infection.
• We have a robust initiative which motivates people to wash their hands.
• As part of this initiative, they are advised to clean hands before eating, and before and after direct contact with a patient’s intact skin [taking a pulse or blood pressure, performing physical examinations, lifting the patient in bed, etc.]; after contact with blood, body fluids or excretions, mucous membranes, or wound dressings, after contact with inanimate objects [including medical equipment] in the immediate vicinity of the patient; and after using the restroom. 

• The WHO says as many as 1.4 million people globally suffer from a nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections, which account for about 80,000 deaths annually. Medanta has initiated a public health initiative where our teams demonstrate six steps of hand hygiene to school and university students.
• The team has trained more than one lakh students in Gurugram, Lisana, Jhajjar, Manesar, Faridabad, Karnal, Sohna and Delhi. In addition, special hand hygiene training workshops are organised for RWAs, NGOs, slums and at mass events. The team has organised cyclothons, marathons and nukkad nataks in the community to raise awareness. It is in routine practice inside the hospital, where all doctors, nurses and paramedical staff regularly and religiously practice hand hygiene to prevent transmission of infection.

Source:TH