The Hand Hygiene for All initiative is necessary to move the world towards supporting the most vulnerable communities with the means to protect their health and environment. The initiative will help WHO implement global hand hygiene to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure lasting infrastructure and behaviour. It will create innovative solutions to fit different contexts to make soap, alcohol-based hand rubs and hygiene supplies available and affordable.
Access to hand hygiene in healthcare facilities, schools, public places, and homes is essential to protect global health and reduce the risk of future outbreaks. In all settings, scaling up hand hygiene could prevent an estimated 165000 deaths from diarrhoeal diseases each year. Scientific evidence has also shown that improving health hygiene strategies in health care can reduce healthcare-associated infections.
A workshop titled “Hand Hygiene for All-HH4A” is taking place in many districts of the country, a joint venture of UNICEF, WaterAid Bangladesh and JAAGO Foundation. The workshop teaches young people proper hand washing and the basic concepts of hand hygiene, safety and WASH protocol so that they can teach it to others later on. 120 youth participants have already joined the training from six different districts in Rangpur and Khulna divisions. In addition to that, the workshop in Dhaka division took place on 20th & 21st March, 2022 with 60 more youth.
Hand hygiene is the key to stopping the spread of COVID-19. Adopting effective hand hygiene strategies is the single most effective intervention to prevent diseases and death due to Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR). Hand hygiene also protects against other conditions, including common colds, flu, diarrhoea and pneumonia. This is also a very cost-effective way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
