By HFT Staff

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF launched the first global guidelines for hand hygiene in community settings. 

According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, based in the US, handwashing can help prevent approximately 80 percent of infectious diseases — underscoring its critical role in public health. 

Poor hand hygiene contributes to millions of preventable illnesses globally — a challenge that affects all regions and income levels. The introduction of these new guidelines from WHO and UNICEF highlights the significant role that simple, everyday hygiene practices play in protecting communities in public settings. 

The guidelines clarify the role of handwashing within broader hygiene practices, outlining when to wash hands, how to do it effectively and what conditions support good hygiene habits. They reinforce that handwashing is not just a personal routine — it is a public health intervention that everyone can take. 

The impact of hand hygiene can be profound. Research has shown that, even in high-income countries, handwashing education can: 

• Reduce diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58 percent. 
• Cut respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 16-21 percent. 
• Lower diarrhea incidence by ~33 percent in schools and day-care centers. 

These new guidelines offer a unified approach to addressing hand hygiene policy in community settings, which institutions can use to support individuals and encourage hygiene behavior changes by implementing practical strategies that encourage regular handwashing at key moments of risk. 

To read the new WHO/UNICEF guidelines, visit here.