On 5 May every year, World Health Organisation (WHO) urges health professionals globally to remember that hand hygiene and infection prevention and control more generally are key weapons in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

About 70% of health care workers globally do not routinely practice hand hygiene, and as little as 50% of surgical teams comply with hand hygiene best practice throughout a surgical patient's hospital stay. The result can be antibiotic-resistant infections that cause serious illness and death. But the good news is they are avoidable! WHO's calls to action to fight against antibiotic resistance in the context of hand hygiene and infection prevention and control this year are:

Health workers: "Clean your hands at the right times and stop the spread of antibiotic resistance."

Hospital Chief Executive Officers and Administrators: "Lead a year-round infection prevention and control programme to protect your patients from resistant infections."

Policy makers: "Stop antibiotic resistance spread by making infection prevention and hand hygiene a national policy priority."

Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) leaders: "Implement WHO's Core Components for infection prevention, including hand hygiene, to combat antibiotic resistance."