Global Handwashing Day is an annual advocacy day on 15 October dedicated to advocating for handwashing as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

This year, the theme is ‘Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene’. The theme calls for governments, donors, businesses, institutions, researchers, and advocates to unite in action to achieve the goal of hand hygiene for all.

• According to the World Bank, hygiene promotion is the most cost-effective health action to reduce disease.
• As of 2020, 2.3 billion people lacked basic hygiene services (handwashing facility with soap and water), and 1.6 billion people had access to handwashing facilities that lacked water or soap. Source: CDC.gov
• Worldwide, 70% of people used basic hygiene services in 2020. Source: CDC.gov

IWA Publishing remains committed to helping to improve global health and well-being and to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation for All, by sharing our Open Access resources about water, wastewater, and sanitation.

Take a look at some of our Open Access research

💧 Determinants of diarrhoeal infections among users of shared sanitation in informal settlements in Durban, South Africa

💧 Psychosocial factors influencing handwashing behaviour and the design of behaviour change interventions for the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh

💧 Interventions to address unsafe child feces disposal practices in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review

💧 Factors predicting proper handwashing practice amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in India: a field-based cross-sectional study

💧 Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) coverage and practices of children from five public primary schools in Guinea

💧 Inclusive WASH and sustainable tourism in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia: needs and opportunities

💧 Climate variability, water supply, sanitation and diarrhea among children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel analysis

💧 WASH, vulnerability, severity, and the response of urban slum dwellers to the COVID-19 pandemic

💧 A systems approach to improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools in Odisha, India

💧 Achieving handwashing with Social Art for Behaviour Change: the experience of the Lazos de Agua programme in Latin America

Take a look at our Open Access eBooks on handwashing and sanitation:

Integrated Functional Sanitation Value Chain: The Role of the Sanitation Economy

Resilience of Water Supply in Practice: Experiences from the Frontline

Sustainable Industrial Water Use: Perspectives, Incentives, and Tools