Hand Hygiene in the Control of Ebola Virus Disease

For any infection that can be spread through touch, including those carried in bodily fluids, hand hygiene is vital. It is the key action that protects every individual. That is why the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights a number of key messages on hand hygiene in the prevention of Ebola virus disease, and how improving hand hygiene action can positively affect whole communities, a whole country, if the right systems and culture can be embedded.

Many of the WHO hand hygiene improvement tools have been relevant in the situation of the Ebola outbreak but the local production of alcohol-based handrub (ABHR) instructions have been promoted most in an attempt to address the system change in the first instance as per the WHO recommendation for a multimodal improvement strategy.

Here are some key resources from the WHO:

Hand hygiene in health care in the context of Filovirus disease outbreak response