5 May is Global Hand Hygiene Day, a campaign which ‘mobilizes people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene in health care facilities, thus protecting health care workers and patients from infections.’

As the World Health Organization states,

The main goal of the Global Hand Hygiene Day campaign is to recognize that handwashing is one of the most effective actions you can take to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus. Health workers and community members alike can play a role in preventing infections by practicing regular and frequent handwashing.

There are a number of initiatives to promote good hand hygiene:

• The #SafeHands challenge, which asks participants to upload videos of themselves washing their hands using appropriate techniques to various social media platforms.
• The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has gathered together the evidence (including systematic reviews) for the role handwashing with soap or other disinfectants play in combating the spread of COVID-19.
• Royal Marsden Manual Online (accessible with an NHS Athens login) has an entire section on hand hygiene, including the proper procedure for hand-washing. Please note that this content is only viewable if you have logged in via Athens.
• The NHS has put together a guide on the correct way to wash your hands.

Should you prefer this guidance in video form, it is embedded below.