By Kazeem Akolawole
The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed regrets, despite the necessity of hand hygiene in the healthcare system, the practice is still not widely practiced to its full potential globally.
WHO, in its first agenda on hand hygiene in healthcare, found that, without targeted improvement measures, the average compliance level remains at approximately 40 percent but, in critical care settings like intensive care units, it’s closer to 60 percent.
It went on to say that there is a considerable difference between high-income and low-income nations and these differences must be understood to prioritise research in areas where there are still gaps in knowledge, which is why the agenda aimed to generate data and evidence that will help policy and decision-makers at the national and health facility levels to scale up and accelerate the improvement of hand hygiene.
The research further showed that Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are among the most frequent adverse events occurring in the context of health service delivery and represent a significant threat to health of the people around the globe.
“They harm patients, and health workers and strain health budgets. According to WHO’s 2022 report, out of every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries and 15 patients in low- and middle-income countries will acquire at least one HAI during their hospital stay.
“There is compelling evidence that IPC interventions, including hand hygiene practices, can achieve a 35 to 70% reduction in the rates of HAIs. In addition to being significantly beneficial in preventing infections, IPC programmes are the “best buy” for decision-makers, resulting in at least a seven-fold return for each 1 US$ invested.
“Improving hand hygiene in health care settings represents an excellent return on investment: it could save up to US$ 16.5 in health care expenditure for every 1 US$ spent, Advancing the quality of evidence on hand hygiene improvement strategies through the research agenda will ultimately result in more efficient and cost-effective IPC programmes, improved quality and safety of care, and better patient outcomes.
“Many of the infections acquired in health care settings can be prevented and avoided by hand hygiene in health care facilities, and yet, half of health care facilities worldwide lack basic hygiene services with water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub where patients receive care, and at toilets”.
“Around 3.85 billion people use these facilities, putting them at greater risk of infection, including 688 million people who receive care at facilities with no hygiene services at all.
“Clean hands keep patients and health workers safe and there are solutions even where infrastructure and resources are limited. Investing in water, sanitation hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities would incur only modest funding of only 3% of current government health”.
