World Hand Hygiene Day 2021: Hand hygiene is not a luxury

Welt-Handhygiene-Tag 2021: Handhygiene ist kein Luxus

Every year on the fifth day of the fifth month, the World Health Organization proclaims World Hand Hygiene Day. The date is easy to remember, after all, it can be counted off with five fingers on each hand.

„Seconds save lives – clean your hands!“

The global "Seconds save lives - clean your hands!" campaign, launched in 2009 and celebrated annually on May 5 as World Hand Hygiene Day, aims to maintain global promotion, visibility and sustainability of hand hygiene in healthcare and bring people together to support hand hygiene improvement worldwide.


(Bildquelle: https://www.who.int/multi-media/details/whhd2021-poster,04.05.2021)

Proper hand hygiene can prevent transmission of pathogens
For World Hand Hygiene Day 2021, WHO is calling on healthcare workers and facilities to take effective hand hygiene measures during treatments, which is relevant for all healthcare workers, patients as well as their families at every patient contact.
Proper hand hygiene can prevent the transmission of infectious microorganisms during health care delivery. WHO has developed a multimodal strategy to improve hand hygiene.  You can find the handbook here!

Important facts and figures

  • Adequate hand hygiene prevents up to 50% of preventable infections during health care, including those that affect health care workers.
  • Adequate hand hygiene reduces the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection, among healthcare workers.
  • One in three facilities lacks hand hygiene facilities at the point of care.
  • Globally, for every 100 patients, 7 in developed countries and 15 in developing countries acquire at least one treatment-associated infection in acute care hospitals.

Alternatives to hand washing 

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective measures to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus.
Unfortunately, hand washing is not always possible everywhere, so there are alternatives such as disinfectants or antiviral and antibacterial gloves, such as our ElephantSkin gloves.

The breathable organic cotton gloves from ElephantSkin destroy viruses and bacteria within just a few minutes and thus reduce the transmission from one object to the next, so you have one less thing to worry about when pushing down someone else's door buckle, holding on in the streetcar, tapping at the ATM or pushing the shopping cart.

Click here to go to the store!

(Quelle: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day/2021,04.05.2021)