In 2024, FV Hospital once again joins the global community to celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day (May 5th annually) under the theme “Why is sharing knowledge about hand hygiene still so important? Because it helps stop the spread of harmful germs in healthcare.” Through this annual event, FV aims not only to promote effective infection control within the hospital but also to amplify important message about hand hygiene to everyone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set an important goal for this year, to raise awareness about the importance of knowledge and learning about hand hygiene at the right times to prevent a range of infectious diseases. It is estimated that there are 136 million cases of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) worldwide every year. Additionally, research from Europe shows that every $1 invested in improving hand hygiene yields a return of $24.6.

This illustrates that hand hygiene is a simple and effective way to prevent infection-related issues but also holds economic significance. Under the theme “Why is sharing knowledge about hand hygiene still so important? Because it helps stop the spread of harmful germs in healthcare”, the WHO aims to raise awareness about the importance of knowledge and learning about hand hygiene, thus enabling correct hand-washing practices and turning it into a good habit for everyone.

Furthermore, the WHO emphasises the need to enhance learning approaches to enable implementation of innovative and effective training to empower health and care workers to improve hand hygiene that enables infection prevention and control (IPC) at point of care with enhanced knowledge, skills and behaviours. Additionally, the measurement and evaluation mechanisms allows the assessment of the impact of training and education on IPC standards and practices including hand hygiene, that impacts the effect on the prevention of HAIs and AMR are also strongly encouraged by WHO.

FV Hospital, adhering to safety standards set by the Joint Commission International (JCI), continuously enhances the capacity and knowledge of healthcare staff through innovative training programmes to ensure that infection control at the hospital remains at its best. In addition to celebrating World Hand Hygiene Day, FV also implements various methods to make “correct hand hygiene” a familiar process for all healthcare staff and patients.

On this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day, we hope that everyone will join FV in the campaign “Why is sharing knowledge about hand hygiene still so important? Because it helps stop the spread of harmful germs in healthcare” with those around you. With our collective cooperation and effort, we can significantly reduce the spread of infectious diseases and protect the health of the community.