Global Handwashing Day

On Global Handwashing Day , the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement calls on everyone to recognize handwashing as essential to health and dignity in every community. Everyone can be a handwashing hero. Teachers can make handwashing part of the daily routine in classrooms.   Healthcare workers and managers can ensure facilities have soap and water for patients and staff. Community leaders can champion handwashing stations in public spaces and during emergencies.   Policymakers can ensure that handwashing facilities are included in every school, health facility, and community plans. On October 15th , Global Handwashing Day and every day, let's work together to ensure that everyone, everywhere can access the soap and water they need to stay healthy and safe. Learn more about the IFRC’s work in water, sanitation and hygiene .

  Hand hygiene in domestic settings is associated with a range of socio-demographic factors and behavioral determinants. Studies included in our analysis reported household knowledge, access to water, cultural beliefs and practices, and perceived susceptibility to illnesses as significant predictors of hand hygiene practice ( Agaro et al., 2022 ; Ogutu et al., 2022 ). For example, Leung et al. (2022) found that while parents had good knowledge of hygiene as a preventative measure, their attitudes and practices did not always translate into hand hygiene actions . This finding emphasizes the need to design programs that go beyond hygiene education and address key determinants to change hygiene behavior . One qualitative study by Sedekia et al. (2022) assessed a WASH intervention on soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection among children. The authors selected 20 households to engage in sessions that promoted various WASH improvement activities. These sessions were targeted to...

  Educational institutions provide an important context to promote hand hygiene behavior for the next generation . Limitations for hand hygiene support in schools include lack of access to basic handwashing facilities , especially in low and middle-income countries. Multiple studies published in 2022 examined handwashing knowledge and practices among school children and their caregivers. A cross-sectional study by Berhanu et al. (2022) investigated handwashing practices 5 among public primary school children in Ethiopia, finding that only 23.4% of the children reported always washing their hands before eating and only 16.7% reported always washing their hands after using the toilet. Availability of handwashing facilities, grade level, residence, and presence of role models were significantly associated with reported handwashing practices. The findings revealed that students with access to a handwashing facility in their home were 3.62 times more likely to wash their hands compa...

 Multiple studies published in 2022 focused on hand hygiene compliance in healthcare settings ( Al-Anaziet al., 2022 ; Kamara et al., 2022 ). A cross-sectional study by Umar et al. (2022) reported hand hygiene compliance as 34.7% among nurses working in public hospitals in Ethiopia, with positive association between hand hygiene compliance and gender (male), work experience (greater than 5 years), training in hand hygiene, availability of running water, and knowledge of hand hygiene. Another study by Yehouenou et al. (2022) investigated hand hygiene behavior in a public hospital in Benin; several factors, including knowledge, attitudes, and social factors, influenced hand hygiene behavior in this setting. In a qualitative study among healthcare workers in Iran, Ahmadipour et al. (2022) identified three broad categories of barriers to hand hygiene practice in healthcare settings that operate at multiple levels. First, the authors identified barriers related to the individual, w...

  Studies published in 2022 investigated the impact hygiene and broader WASH interventions can produce in humanitarian contexts. White et al. (2022a) conducted a qualitative case study in Northern Iraq to investigate how hygiene behavior is affected by conflict and displacement . The authors found that the ongoing conflict and displacement had a negative impact on hygiene practices, such as handwashing and sanitation. Bisimwa etal. (2022) conducted formative research to develop evidence-based targeted WASH interventions to reduce cholera in hotspots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Preventative Intervention for Cholera for 7 Days (PICHA7) program was developed based on this research, which includes interventions such as promoting hand hygiene, water treatment, and safe food handling practices and emphasizes the importance of community engagement and participation in the development and implementation of such interventions in this context. Some studies examined more n...

 Proper hand hygiene plays a major role in preventing the spread of diseases in public spaces . One study by Akter et al. (2022) investigated implementation barriers and facilitators to a COVID-19 intervention in Bangladesh, focusing on the benefits of engaging the community for program delivery. The authors used a mixed-methods approach and found that engaging influential community members, free-of-cost materials, and telemedicine services were key facilitators in the successful implementation of the program, while irregular participation in trainings, lack of communication and coordination among stakeholders, and inadequate resources were identified as significant barriers. Another study by George et al. (2022) evaluated COVID-19 preventive hygiene behaviors by observing mask wearing , handwashing , and physical distancing behaviors in public indoor spaces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The study used a cross-sectional design and found that most participants were o...

  Access to proper hand hygiene services, supplies, and facilities is a critical determinant to improving hand hygiene behavior. Studies published in 2022 examined socio-demographic factors that impact hand hygiene access and explored the effectiveness of various hand hygiene techniques and products. Endalew et al. (2022) analyzed the prevalence and factors associated with limited handwashing facilities – defined as a dedicated location for handwashing where either soap or water are available but not both – among 29 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa using data from Demographic Health Surveys. Based on their model, the prevalence of limited handwashing facilities was 66.16%. A cross-sectional study by Muramatsu-Noguchi etal. (2022) investigated the association between socioeconomic status and the presence of soap at handwashing facilities in Laos. The study found a significant linear relationship between the presence of soap and household wealth and educational attainment. Althoug...

Sustaining hand hygiene behavior change requires addressing a range of behavioral determinants. Behavioral determinants are factors that influence behavior. Determinants for hand hygiene behavior include social norms, affiliation, enabling technologies/infrastructure, nurture, disgust, perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of diseases. The Handwashing Handbook groups these determinants into reflexive, habitual factors (such as culture, environmental cues, and nudges) and more reflective, conscious decision-making factors (such as knowledge and emotional motivators). Enabling technologies are a critical determinant for hand hygiene behavior. Undoubtedly, it is not possible to maintain good hand hygiene without the necessary facilities. However, in a study surveying 29 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Endalew et al. (2022) determined that 66.16% of handwashing facilities lacked either water or soap. Access to facilities and supplies cannot be neglected, but it is not the o...

Behavior change takes time. Not only do people need to be motivated initially to take up a healthy behavior, but this motivation must be sustained for the maintenance of this behavior. Whether due to fatigue or the rise of other immediate needs, without reinforcement, healthy habits drop down on the priority list. Several studies in the 2022 Hand hygiene summary report highlight the need for sustainable interventions for lasting behavior change. In a domestic setting , Sedekia et al. (2022) conducted a study and held 20 household sessions on soil-transmitted helminth (STH) among children after which 18 households installed handwashing stations. However, after 8 months, only 8 households had maintained the handwashing stations. These findings show that, although the sessions were initially effective, sustained interventions were necessary to motivate households to maintain and utilize the handwashing stations . Similar effects were seen in a study by Nalule et al. (2022) assessing ...

 FHI360 research ers highlight the latest evidence on hand hygiene behavior change using evidence from the latest Hand Hygiene Research Summary published by the Global Handwashing Partnership. Good behavior change programming goes beyond knowledge and education, rather good program design understands the barriers and enablers of hand hygiene behavior. Several studies in the 2022 report highlight the need for sustainable interventions for lasting behavior change. Overall, the 2022 Hand Hygiene Research Summary emphasizes what many of us already know: Increased knowledge of hand hygiene practices does not automatically lead to improved hand hygiene behaviors. While improvements have been made to go beyond health education programs, the latest evidence emphasizes that more should be done to promote hand hygiene behavior change in different contexts. The research for the use of emotional motivators as a determinant for sustained behavior change is promising. Health-related motivat...