Editorial: Can we afford to overlook hand hygiene again?

From:: Department for International Development
Published: 1 January 2013

Document Type:: Journal Article
Theme:: Water and Sanitation
Authors:: Cairncross, S., Curtis, V., Greenland, K., Cumming, O.

Abstract

Access to safe and reliable drinking water and sanitation, Millennium Development Goal 7, target 7c, is essential for health and well-being and is recognised as a human right. Hygiene delivers many of the health benefits associated with water and sanitation and yet is missing from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly will convene to agree post-2015 goals and targets for sustainable development. Health should not be sidelined in this process. An updated estimate of the number of lives that could be saved by the practice of good hand hygiene adds weight to the case for this basic life-saving intervention to be included as a measurable indicator of health in the forthcoming goals.

Citation

Greenland, K.; Cairncross, S.; Cumming, O.; Curtis, V. Editorial: Can we afford to overlook hand hygiene again? Tropical Medicine and International Health (2013) [DOI: 10.1111/tmi.12055] Published online 7 January 2013