Clean Hands Save Lives

You may not know it, but an innovation has made our world a better place. The use of alcohol-based handrubs protects us from infectious diseases and saves millions of lives each year through safer health care. Here is the story of this revolutionary formulation, made available without patent and offered as a gift to humanity by Professor Didier Pittet and his team at Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG). From bush doctors to giant pharmaceutical corporations, everyone can now produce effective handrubs, cheaply and easily. Didier Pittet’s medical odyssey has taken him to the four corners of the Earth. It also reveals a new path open to human society, one that pro- mises a radical shift from a predatory economic system to an economy of peace. Thierry Crouzet — blogger, essay writer, and novelist — is fascinated by contemporary issues located at the nexus of technology, politics, and lite- rature. A former journalist, his published works in French include Le Peuple des connecteurs [The Connected People], a reflection on our networked society; J’ai débranché [How I Unplugged], a tale of digital burnout; and La Quatrième Théorie [The Fourth Theory], a political techno-thriller.

Didier Pittet has been the champion of hand hygiene. With the COVID-19 pandemic, his slogan “Adapt to Adopt” provoked a previously unimaginable response. In just a few weeks, everyone from perfume and wine makers to city pharmacists started to produce alcohol-based handrub, while YouTubers and humorists promoted its use. Heralds of the Adapt to Adopt strategy, they got creative in order to encourage hand hygiene on a mass scale. But reluctance, misunderstandings, and false ideas still subsist. Following on from *Clean Hands Save Lives*, this book explains why hand hygiene remains our primary weapon against epidemics, why alcohol is effective, why alcohol-based handrubs and gels are not dangerous, and why their distribution as a common good for humanity could become a model for global health, or even society in general. When we adapt, we feel invested, concerned, and involved. Nothing matters more for hand hygiene, which protects us and protects others.

The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to improve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants. Definitions of health-care settings are proposed in Appendix 1. These Guidelines and the associated WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy and an Implementation Toolkit (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/) are designed to offer health-care facilities in Member States a conceptual framework and practical tools for the application of recommendations in practice at the bedside. While ensuring consistency with the Guidelines recommendations, individual adaptation according to local regulations, settings, needs, and resources is desirable. This extensive review includes in one document sufficient technical information to support training materials and help plan implementation strategies. The document comprises six parts.

This delightful board book follows the journey of a germ using unique heat-sensitive pages and combining interaction, play and learning, showing pre-schoolers the importance of clean hands. The journey, from the toilet seat to the tummy (and out again!), explores the concepts of germs being invisible to the naked eye, multiplying and causing illness. By placing their warm hands on the thermochromic patches, the multiplying germs are revealed. The simple, bright and bold illustrations by Charlie Evans allow children to develop an understanding of science and health from a young age, while having fun in the process

The Little Princess loves getting her hands dirty. The trouble is . . . she hates washing them. Until she learns all about the nasties and the dirties and all the other horrible things that lurk and make you ill . . .

The perfect picture book to teach children about the importance of washing their hands. There's a very special guest at the school for little animals, and her name is Doris - Doris the Doctorpus. She's here to help the animals learn to wash their hands because of something very very small called GERMS! Doris explains that washing your hands can send germs packing and she's got her very own hand-washing song too. A funny and reassuring story that's perfect for calming worried little ones while reinforcing the importance of keeping hands super-clean. A donation of 50p per copy sold will be donated in aid of the NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Urgent Appeal.

The first comprehensive, authoritative review of one of the most fundamental and important issues in infection control and patient safety, hand hygiene. Developed and presented by the world's leading scholar-clinicians, Hand Hygiene is an essential resource for all medical professionals. Developed and presented by the world leaders in this fundamental topic Fully integrates World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and policies Offers a global perspective in tackling hand hygiene issues in developed and developing countries Coverage of basic and highly complex clinical applications of hand hygiene practices Includes novel and unusual aspects and issues in hand hygiene such as religious and cultural aspects and patient participation Offers guidance at the individual, institutional, and organizational levels for national and worldwide hygiene promotion campaigns