On 5 May 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) will highlight the critical importance of good hand hygiene in patient care with a new global awareness initiative. Hospitals/healthcare facilities throughout the world are invited to register their support for hand hygiene improvement at the point of care as a core patient safety issue to reduce healthcare-associated infection (HAI) and protect patients from harm. The target is 5000 facilities to be registered by 5 May 2010.
Once registered, hospitals/healthcare facilities will be invited to develop their own ways of advocating for better hand hygiene. WHO will support these via a designated website, a suite of tools and other promotional and advocacy materials. As more and more facilities register, we will publicise this groundswell of support to send a strong message to the world about the importance of the simple, low cost healthcare intervention – hand hygiene.
To date, 116 countries have pledged support for the First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care. More than 20 countries have developed their own in-country campaigns to promote hand hygiene at the point of care, and there are several sites which have pilot-tested the implementation of the WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Healthcare in the six WHO regions.
A set of new and refined tools for healthcare facilities and healthcare workers globally will be accessible from the WHO website. The tools will help facilities determine where they are on a continuum of hand hygiene improvement, and assist with implementation and ongoing sustainability. The tools feature the newly developed WHO 5 Moments Model - a ground-breaking concept to help ensure that improvements are embedded at the point of care and move closer towards a global healthcare system in which no patients are harmed due to avoidable HAI.
If you are a healthcare facility/hospital and you are interested in this campaign, register your interest NOW via http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/en/index.html
For more information please click here |
