Global Health Care Facilities Lack Basic Hygiene Services

Little more than half of health care facilities worldwide meet the criteria for basic hand hygiene services, according to a recent report. Basic service is defined as having functional hand hygiene facilities with water and soap, alcohol-based hand rub, or both available where patients receive care and are close to toilets at health care facilities, according to the Aug 2022 report from the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene. The report updates national, regional, and global estimates for WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) plus health care waste management and environmental cleaning in health care facilities up to 2021. Hygiene data are available for 40 countries, which represent 35% of the world's population, according to a news release. Only 51% had hand hygiene services both at the point of care and near toilets, meeting the criteria for basic hygiene services. In the least developed countries, 32% of health care facilities had a basic hygiene service. Globally, 1 of 11 health care facilities had no service.