May 5 was World Hand Hygiene Day. This year, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands” campaign takes on increased significance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a recent letter in the Journal of Hospital Infection, three researchers outlined that hand hygiene with alcohol-based rubs are one of the most effective measures to prevent COVID-19 cross-transmission among healthcare workers. This seems obvious, especially now, but despite the many coordinated campaigns and efforts in the past, hand hygiene has yet to be implemented rigorously across the world.

Hand hygiene is often difficult to achieve in over-crowded healthcare settings, and in settings where resources may be limited. For example, in 2016, in eight out of 55 countries with data available, more than half of health care settings lacked appropriate handwashing facilities (i.e. water and soap or alcohol-based hand rubs) at points of care, as per a global baseline report compiled by the WHO & UNICEF. 

To complicate matters further, healthcare workers, especially nurses, are often exposed to infectious pathogens, must work long hours and may have limited access to the necessary personal protective equipment in an infectious outbreak like COVID-19. With all of this in mind, it is important now, more than ever, that everyone practices hand hygiene rigorously.

The WHO proclaimed 2020 to be the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, so it’s unsurprising to see that their specific calls to action include calling on nurses and midwives to take special care with cleaning their hands, and for policy makers to increase staffing levels to improve the quality of healthcare. Similarly, the CDC has issued a Clean Hands Count Campaign to address myths around hand hygiene.

So yes, please go wash your hands. Plain soap and water will do, and if your skin is getting too dry, find a greasy or thick cream to apply. Just don’t stop washing your hands.