5 May is the 16th World Hand Hygiene Day. This year's theme is: Promoting knowledge and capacity building for health and caregivers through innovative and impactful training and education on infection prevention and control, including hand hygiene. This year's slogan is: Why is it still so important to share hand hygiene knowledge, as it helps stop the spread of harmful germs in healthcare.
Next, we will take a closer look at the basics of hand hygiene and protect our health together.
1. What is hand hygiene?
Hand hygiene refers to the general term for hand washing, hygienic hand sanitization, and surgical hand disinfection by medical personnel in the course of their professional activities. With proper hand hygiene practices, infection can be effectively prevented and controlled, and patients and healthcare workers can be kept safe.
2. How to wash your hands properly?
World Hand Hygiene Day is not just a holiday, it's not just for health workers. We hope that through this festival, the whole people can pay attention to hand hygiene and prevent infection, starting with proper hand washing. To properly clean your hands, you need to use running water and soap or hand sanitizer to effectively remove germs. The rubbing time should be at least 15 seconds, and it can be effectively cleaned according to the six-step handwashing method: i.e., washing the palm, washing the dorsal fingers, washing the fingers, washing the back of the fingers, washing the thumbs and fingertips.
3. When should you wash your hands in your life?
In life, we need to be vigilant and grasp the correct timing of hand washing to prevent infection. Hands need to be cleaned thoroughly in many situations in life, such as after sneezing and coughing, after touching public objects, before touching eyes, nose and mouth, before eating and handling food, after urinating or urinating, and after other situations where you may be exposed to contaminants.
World Hand Hygiene Day is established and celebrated to raise public awareness of the importance of hand hygiene and to promote public health safety and health promotion around the world. Let's focus on hand hygiene and contribute to the creation of a healthy and safe social environment, starting with proper hand washing.
Author: Liu Tianlong
Source: Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Editor: Bai Bing, Sun Kaifeng
Proofreading: Qiu Wei, Chen Zeming
Preliminary review: Sun Baijun
Review: Xu Jiang