‘Nurses and Midwives: clean care is in your hands’: the 5 May 2020 WorldHealth Organization SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign

摘要

In honour of Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday, the World Health Organization (WHO) hasdeclared 2020 the ‘Year of the Nurse and Midwife’. In addition to championing the nursingprofession, Nightingale’s role was also fundamental for the recognition of the importance ofinfection prevention and control (IPC), as she was among the first to recognise that acaregiver could transmit germs, and thus cause patient harm. Nurses and midwives make upnearly 50% of the global health workforce (WHO, 2020b) and are the group of healthcare workers that have the most frequentcontact with patients. This makes them pivotal figures in the fight againsthealthcare-associated infections (HAI) as well as neonatal and maternal sepsis.