Alcohol-based hand cleaners for hospital staff, easier and faster to use than soap and water, could save lives and slash health care costs, the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, according to Reuters.
The United Nations agency estimated that 1.4 million people worldwide are sick at any given moment with infections they catch in hospitals, mainly spread when doctors and nurses do not clean their hands every time they tend to a new patient.
Between 5 percent and 10 percent of patients in developed-country hospitals, and up to a quarter of those receiving care in the developing world, are afflicted with such ailments, which are costly to treat and can be deadly, Reuters said.
Up to 10 percent of those who catch an infection in hospital die as a result, said Didier Pittet, leader of the WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge and head of infection control at the Geneva University Hospitals.
Pittet believes ease-of-use of the alcohol-based sanitizers can prevent infections that cost thousands to treat.
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Clean hands save lives say the World Health Organisation
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