Launched in 2009 and celebrated annually on May 5, the World Hand Hygiene Day aims to maintain the global promotion, visibility and sustainability of hand hygiene in healthcare and to ‘bring people together’ in support of improving hand hygiene around the world.

For the World Hand Hygiene Day 2021, the WHO urges health facility workers to take effective hand hygiene measures in the area of health care. The area of health care refers to the place where three elements converge: the patient, the health worker and the care or treatment that involves contact with the patient or their environment.

To be effective and prevent the transmission of infectious microorganisms during the provision of health care, hand hygiene should be performed when necessary (at 5 specific times) and in the most effective way (using the appropriate technique with readily available products) in the area of HEALTH care. This can be achieved using the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy.