How to improve antibiotic awareness campaigns: findings of a WHO global survey.

Introduction: We aimed to examine the characteristics of antibiotic awareness campaigns (AAC) conducted on a national or regional level since 2010.

Methods: In October 2016, the WHO invited stakeholders involved in the planning or conduct of AACs to answer a web questionnaire. We solicited general information about the characteristics of the AAC, with a particular focus on key messages supporting optimal use of antibiotics.

Discovery, research, and development of new antibiotics: the WHO priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and tuberculosis.

Background: The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a substantial threat to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to its large public health and societal implications, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has been long regarded by WHO as a global priority for investment in new drugs. In 2016, WHO was requested by member states to create a priority list of other antibiotic-resistant bacteria to support research and development of effective drugs.

Efficacy of the World Health Organization-recommended handwashing technique and a modified washing technique to remove Clostridium difficile from hands.

Background: The efficacy of the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended handwashing technique against Clostridium difficile is uncertain, and whether it could be improved remains unknown. Also, the benefit of using a structured technique instead of an unstructured technique remains unclear.

Methods: This study was a prospective comparison of 3 techniques (unstructured, WHO, and a novel technique dubbed WHO shortened repeated [WHO-SR] technique) to remove C difficile.

Simplifying the WHO 'how to hand rub' technique: three steps are as effective as six-results from an experimental randomized crossover trial.

Objectives: The World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines on hand hygiene recommending a six-step 'how to hand rub' technique for applying alcohol-based hand rub. However, adherence to all six steps is poor. We assessed a simplified three-step technique and compared it to the conventional WHO six-step technique in terms of bacterial count reduction on healthcare workers' hands.

The strategic plan for combating antimicrobial resistance in Gulf Cooperation Council States.

The Gulf Cooperation Council Center for Infection Control (GCC-IC) has placed the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on the top of its agenda for the past four years. The board members have developed the initial draft for the GCC strategic plan for combating AMR in 2014. The strategic plan stems from the WHO mandate to combat AMR at all levels.

Role of parents in the promotion of hand hygiene in the paediatric setting: a systematic literature review.

Background: When a child is hospitalized, parents have to share their role to protect the child with the hospital, and establish a partnership with healthcare workers to deliver safe care to the child, including undertaking good hand hygiene practices.

Aim: To review the scientific evidence about the participation of parents in the promotion of hand hygiene in paediatric settings.

Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and SciELO databases was undertaken using the following terms: ('hand hygiene'[MeSH] OR 'hand hygiene' OR 'hand disinfection'[MeSH] OR hand disinf* OR hand wash* OR handwash* OR hand antisep*) AND (parent OR caregiver OR mother OR father OR family OR families OR relatives).

Should Alcohol-Based Handrub Use Be Customized to Healthcare Workers' Hand Size?

We evaluated whether the volume of alcohol-based handrub used by healthcare workers affects the residual bacterial concentration on their hands according to hand size. Bacterial reduction was significantly lower for large hands compared with small hands, which suggests a need for customizing the volume of alcohol-based handrub for hand hygiene.

Efficacy of a new educational tool to improve Handrubbing technique amongst healthcare workers: a controlled, before-after study.

Introduction: Hand hygiene is a key component of infection control in healthcare. WHO recommends that healthcare workers perform six specific poses during each hand hygiene action. SureWash (Glanta Ltd, Dublin, Ireland) is a novel device that uses video-measurement technology and immediate feedback to teach this technique.

Health care workers' hand contamination levels and antibacterial efficacy of different hand hygiene methods used in a Vietnamese hospital.

Background: Handwashing with soap or another antisepsis disinfectant solution is a common practice in Vietnam, but the availability and quality of tap water is unpredictable. We assessed the risk for hand contamination and compared the efficacy of 5 hand hygiene methods in a tertiary Vietnamese hospital.

Methods: Five fingertip imprints of the dominant hand of 134 health care workers (HCWs) were sampled to establish the average bacterial count before and after hand hygiene action using (1) alcohol-based handrub (ABHR), (2) plain soap and water handwashing with filtered and unfiltered water, or (3) 4% chlorhexidine gluconate hand antisepsis with filtered and unfiltered water.

Local production of WHO-recommended alcohol-based handrubs: feasibility, advantages, barriers and costs.

Problem: Reduction of health-care-associated infections in low- and middle-income countries is hampered by inadequate supplies of soap and water and the lack or high cost of alcohol-based handrubs (ABHs).

Approach: In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed and tested two formulations for ABHs that were suitable for production in health-care facilities. In 2011, the feasibility, advantages and costs of the local production of the two formulations - and the barriers to such production - were evaluated in an online survey.

Back to the future: rising to the Semmelweis challenge in hand hygiene.

Hand hygiene is the single most important intervention for reducing healthcare associated infections and preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance. This sentence begins most publications regarding hand hygiene in the medical literature. But why - as we mark 150 years since the publication of Ignaz Semmelweis' landmark monograph on the subject - do we continue to repeat it? One might be tempted to regard it as a truism.