For World Day 2026, San Marino also supports the WHO’s commitment to promoting a practice that contributes to the safety of treatments and helps to combat antibiotic resistance
SAN MARINO – There are actions that, in healthcare, are as valuable as advanced technology: because they always work, every day, at every moment, and protect everyone. Hand hygiene is among these: it is a simple gesture, but when it is transformed into constant adherence to good practices – performed correctly and at the right time – it reduces risks, stabilizes care pathways, protects the health of patients, users and anyone who works in the services.
World Hand Hygiene Day is celebrated on May 5, 2026, promoted by the World Health Organization as part of the global campaign “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands”, now in its 18th edition.
The slogan chosen this year, “Action saves lives”, emphasizes a very clear point: the effectiveness of hand hygiene does not lie in the principles, but in the ability to transform them into constant, organised, verifiable actions.
The WHO draws attention to an often underestimated aspect: hand hygiene is a simple, low-cost and high-impact measure: it interrupts the transmission of microorganisms and helps reduce healthcare-associated infections, which represent a problem for the safety and quality of care.
“This practice – explains Anna LaderchiISS contact person on infectious risk – it is not a simple custom, but a pillar capable of directly impacting the safety of treatment and assistance pathways, as well as addressing the challenge, increasingly central for healthcare systems, of combating antimicrobial resistance. In fact, rigorous hand hygiene represents the first line of defense to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics and protect the future of treatments.”
Preventing infections means reducing complications and hospitalizations, limiting, where possible, the use of antibiotics, to the direct benefit of public health and the sustainability of the system.
The Republic of San Marino has long supported this important good health practice, promoting the adoption of “5 WHO Moments”with the aim of integrating hand hygiene as a non-negotiable operational standard in every clinical and healthcare act.
The 5 moments recalled by the World Health Organization do not limit themselves to indicating when hand hygiene is crucial to protect the patient and operator, but suggest a multimodal strategy based on the inclusion of hand hygiene in national action plans and on the ability to generate continuous improvement through monitoring and timely feedback, guaranteeing safe paths.
“Hand hygiene is a very concrete indicator of the quality of care pathways – underlines the Director General of the ISS, Claudio Vagnini –. Consistent with this year’s slogan, our goal is to transform a good practice into a systematic working method, with clear procedures, continuous training and the ability to verify what we do. Only in this way does the prevention and control of infections become a structural part of patient safety and a strategic lever in the constant fight against antibiotic resistance, because prevention remains the first public health intervention”.
