title: The World Health Organization Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care and their consensus recommendations.
abstract: The World Health Organization's Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care have been issued by WHO Patient Safety on 5 May 2009 on the occasion of the launch of the Save Lives: Clean Your Hands initiative. The Guidelines represent the contribution of more than 100 international experts and provide a comprehensive overview of essential aspects of hand hygiene in health care, evidence- and consensus-based recommendations, and lessons learned from testing their Advanced Draft and related implementation tools.
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Program, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. didier.pittet@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pittet
authors.forename: Benedetta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Allegranzi
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boyce
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D014943:Global Health; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000592:standards*; D007391:International Cooperation; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D014944:World Health Organization