Two United Nations agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) jointly published a report yesterday on the state of world’s hand hygiene which revealed that three out of ten people, 2.3 billion globally, lack a facility with water and soap available to wash their hands at home, while 670 million have no such facility at all. 

The report titled ‘State of the World’s Hand Hygiene – A global call to action to make hand hygiene a priority in policy and practice’ was published on October 15 — which is marked as Global Handwashing Day.

“Facilities (handwashing) are also missing in many health care facilities, schools and public places. In 2019, 7 per cent of health care facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, and 2 per cent globally, had no hand hygiene services at all, and 462 million children attended schools with no hygiene facilities,” the report noted.

Also Read: Every 11 minutes, an adolescent dies by suicide: UNICEF

1 in 3 health care facilities lack hand hygiene facilities

Healthcare workers around the world are in constant exposure to infections via the patients they treat but as per the report, globally only 68 per cent of healthcare facilities have hand hygiene facilities at points of care.

“Despite efforts to promote hand hygiene, often supported by the international community and coinciding with epidemics or emergencies, the rates of access to hand hygiene facilities remain stubbornly low. If current rates of progress continue, by the end of the SDG era in 2030, 1.9 billion people will still lack facilities to wash their hands at home,” the report noted. 

Also Read: ‘Serious’ levels of hunger in India, shows Global Hunger Index; govt terms the methodology ‘unscientific’

‘Time to accelerate progress on hand hygiene is now‘

The report noted that during the COVID19 pandemic, hand hygiene has received unprecedented attention and this has created a unique opportunity to position hand hygiene as an important long-term public policy issue.

“The global community finds itself at a unique moment in time – one of both urgency and opportunity. The time to accelerate progress on hand hygiene is now – before the next health crisis is upon us,” the report stated.

Meanwhile, the Sustainable Development Goal 6 or SDG 6 entail about providing clean water and sanitation for all. A Global Acceleration Framework which has been coordinated by UN-Water, has identified five accelerators to support the achievement of SDG 6:

• Governance: Make SDG 6 everyone’s business through cross-sector
and transboundary collaboration, clear roles, stakeholder involvement and effective and inclusive institutions.

• Financing: Optimise financing for water and sanitation, particularly for
countries and communities with limited access to financial resources.

• Data and information: Build trust through data generation, validation,
standardisation and information exchange for decision-making and accountability.

• Capacity development: Focus on inclusive human and institutional capacities at all levels to understand and deliver SDG 6.

• Innovation: Leverage and scale-up innovative practices and technologies in schools, health care facilities and other public places, including technologies that are accessible for rural areas and marginalized communities.

Also Read: ‘90% diarrhoea deaths in India due to lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities’