The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) is participating in the 11th hand hygiene campaign in conjunction with the activities of the international community on the World Hand Hygiene Day, which was approved by the World Health Organization on May 5 of each year, targeting all primary health care workers and society in general.
The campaign emphasises the importance of hand hygiene and the correct way to clean them. On the occasion, several awareness events will be organised on May 11 with the aim of consolidating hand hygiene practices and motivating the community and workers in health centers reduces the rate of infection associated with health care.
The campaign will also focus on educating employees in health centers, as well as patients, to prevent the spread of microbes, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, because many diseases are transmitted through direct contact with individuals or due to the environment, offices, family and others, especially since the lack of hand hygiene is a reason for the spread of many types of bacteria and viruses that cause diseases such as the coronavirus, seasonal flu, diarrhoea and others.
The Infection Control Coordinator at PHCC Dr. Ahmed Hashem, said that PHCC is working to avoid various risks that may occur in health centers, including preventing the transmission of microbes, as hands are a major means of transmitting many infectious diseases, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, and therefore care is taken to provide alcoholic detergents, distributing special awareness bulletins for cleaning hands with soap and water, and organisation of events that would consolidate awareness concepts about hand hygiene among patients and workers of the health centers, in addition to other public health measures such as wearing masks and social distancing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 80 percent of infectious diseases are transmitted through touch, and research shows that improving hand hygiene can lead to a significant reduction in healthcare-associated infections by up to 50 percent.
Evidence from the SARS epidemic and COVID-19 also shows that hand hygiene is very important to protect health care workers from infection, as hand washing is very effective for preventing diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases and is therefore one of the most important measures that can be used for prevention from COVID-19 infection.
Alcohol-based hand rub products must contain at least 70 percent alcohol and must be certified and can be made locally by carefully following the WHO guideline.
