WHO urges use of alcohol-based hand cleaners

GENEVA, Nov 10 (Reuters) Alcohol-based hand cleaners for hospital staff could save lives and reduce health care costs, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today.

The UN 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.

Up to 10 per cent of those who catch an infection in hospital die as a result, said Didier Pittet, leader of the WHO global patient safety challenge.

Rubbing one's hands with an alcohol-based solution is easier to integrate into health care routines than constantly cleaning in a sink, he said.

Some 35 countries have signed on to a WHO initiative to fight infections associated with health care practices.

REUTERS SB PM2149