World Hygiene Day 2024 focuses on a crucial theme: promoting knowledge and capacity building of health and care workers through innovative and impactful training and education.
The slogan for this year’s campaign asks, “Why is sharing knowledge about hand hygiene still so important?” The answer is clear: because it helps stop the spread of harmful germs in healthcare.
Hand hygiene is a cornerstone of infection prevention, yet WHO reports indicate that despite efforts to improve it, training and education remain the weakest components of IPC programs globally. The 2024 theme aligns with WHO’s call to action to strengthen IPC training, with a staggering global workforce of 65 million health workers who require consistent and comprehensive education.
While many countries are showing strong engagement and making advancements in scaling up IPC strategies, overall progress is slow, and the gains made are at risk of being lost. This highlights the urgent need to prioritize training and education in healthcare facilities, ensuring that all health workers are equipped with the knowledge and skills to prevent infections effectively.
At Quality Care Cover, we support this year’s World Hygiene Day campaign, recognizing the impact that a well-informed healthcare workforce can have on patient safety and health outcomes. The importance of hand hygiene extends beyond just healthcare settings; it’s about creating a culture of safety that benefits everyone.
By focusing on training and education, healthcare professionals can be empowered to lead the charge against healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which are among the most frequent adverse events in health service delivery. With proper training, health workers can significantly reduce the risk of HAIs, contributing to better patient outcomes and a safer healthcare environment.
On World Hygiene Day 2024, let’s commit to strengthening training and education in healthcare to ensure that hand hygiene and other IPC practices are at the forefront of our efforts to improve patient safety. Together, we can make a lasting impact by sharing knowledge and building the capacity of health workers worldwide.
