15.04.20
Clean care is in your hands: Backing the global call to action
Content provided by skin health and surface hygiene experts GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd, editorially reviewed by National Health Executive.
The worldwide advocacy day for Hand Hygiene falls annually on May 5, and this year its importance is even more significant, as the world battles Covid-19.
As a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Private Organisations for Patient Safety group, GOJO Industries-Europe has always been a strong advocate of making hand hygiene second nature to everyone.
Once again, GOJO is supporting the WHO’s annual ‘Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’ campaign and encouraging everybody in the healthcare industry to get involved.
Hand hygiene best practices aare key to achieving clean care, recognising their crucial contribution to strengthening quality health systems
As the World Health Assembly has designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, the campaign’s focus this year is on the central role played by nurses and midwives in achieving clean care. This includes hand hygiene best practices, as well as recognising their crucial contribution to strengthening quality health systems.
The annual campaign and advocacy day targets a cross-section of influencers in the global healthcare sector, calling them to join together in celebrating and empowering nurses and midwives in the monumental work that they do to keep patients, families, and colleagues safe, by preventing healthcare associated infections.
This year’s specific calls to action are:
- Nurses: “Clean and safe care starts with you.”
- Midwives: “Your hands make all the difference for mothers and babies.”
- Policy Makers: “Increase nurse staffing levels to prevent infections and improve quality of care. Create the means to empower nurses and midwives.”
- Infection Prevention Control Leaders: "Empower nurses and midwives in providing clean care.”
- Patients and Families: "Safer care for you, with you.”
Chris Wakefield, Vice President, European Marketing & Product Development at GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd, said: “Nurses and midwives account for nearly 50% of the global health workforce and play a vital role in providing health services and meeting everyday essential health needs.
“At GOJO, saving lives and making life better through well-being solutions is our mission and it continues to inspire our deep commitment to improving hand hygiene. In partnership with healthcare managers, we can help implement a tailored, effective, and total solution, which promotes compliant and healthy hand hygiene behaviour.
“We are proud and loyal supporters of the WHO’s 'Save Lives – Clean Your Hands' campaign and urge everyone in the healthcare industry to join together in support of hand hygiene improvement globally.”
Free advocacy toolkits to support the WHO Save Lives: Clean Your Hands campaign are available on the WHO website: http://www.who.int/infection-prevention/campaigns/clean-hands/en/
WHO invites everyone to use the hashtags #SupportNursesAndMidwives #HandHygiene #InfectionPrevention on social media to ensure Save Lives: Clean Your Hands posts are picked up by the campaign.