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The Hand Hygiene for All Initiative presents an opportunity to create a step-change in how hand hygiene is promoted, enabled and mainstreamed throughout the whole of society and across the globe. It aims to bring together multiple sectors around a common platform to coordinate voices and actions and, crucially, to align these behind national hand hygiene strategies. The global framework for this Initiative will organise actors around four main areas: evidence and learning, multi-stakeholder engagement, investment and monitoring. UNICEF and WHO will be supported by a select group of core partners, including but not limited to World Bank, Sanitation and Water for All, International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Hygiene Hub, International Labour Organization, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Global Handwashing Partnership and WaterAid. If you have any questions, contact Michael Emerson Gnilo megnilo@unicef.org and Maggie Montgomery MontgomeryM@who.int.

In late 2019, an acute respiratory disease, known as COVID-19, emerged. WHO has published a number of technical guidance documents here. This WHO technical guidance specifically summarizes guidance on water, sanitation and health care waste in particular for water and sanitation practitioners and providers. It will be of interest to others.

Behavioural Determinants of HandWashing and Glove Recontamination before Aseptic Procedures at Birth. A Time-and-Motion Study and Survey inZanzibar Labour Wards  

CATCH-IT is an Ethiopian initiative designed to improve quality of care, timely access to basic services and revitalisation of hospital reform initiatives for institutional transformation.

Infections acquired during labour and delivery are a significant cause of maternal and child morbidity and mortality. Adherence to hand hygiene protocols is a critical component of infection prevention strategies, but few studies have closely examined the hand hygiene of health care providers with sufficient detail to understand infection risks and prioritize prevention strategies. : This observational study was conducted in six healthcare facilities in Nigeria. In each, five women were observed from the onset of labour through to delivery of the placenta. Hand hygiene infection risk was estimated for all procedures requiring aseptic technique compared against adherence to proper hand hygiene protocol and potential recontamination events. This study highlights that hand hygiene remains a barrier to delivering high-quality and safe care in health facilities. Improving hygiene practices during labour and delivery will require strategies that extend beyond infrastructure provision.

Launched to coincide with World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) 2019, this evidence- and expert consensus-based document provides the minimum requirements for building strong and effective IPC programmes at the national and facility level. They should be in place for all countries and health care facilities to support further progress towards full implementation of all recommendations on the WHO core components of IPC programmes.

This template was used at a workshop in Zambia in September 2019. The template should be printed in A1 size i.e. very big (!) and used in workshop exercises for participants to write on while they discuss each point. The final product can be used as an aide memoire for countries to take steps in building workforce capacity to support WASH in health care facilities improvement.

Presentation given at the 2019 Global Meeting on WASH in health care facilities, held in Livingstone, Zambia (9-11 September 2019).

Presentation given at the 2019 Global Meeting on WASH in health care facilities, held in Livingstone, Zambia (9-11 September 2019). This provides an overview of a set of new resources for environmental cleaning, developed by CDC and ICAN.

Including aspects on environmental cleaning and hygiene