Water Wheel Jan/Feb 2026: Health And Hygiene

Abstract

The Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings, launched in October 2025, lay out the first-ever global framework focused specifically on hand hygiene outside healthcare facilities, namely in homes, schools, workplaces, public spaces and institutions. The message is clear: governments, not individuals alone, must take responsibility for making hand hygiene accessible, affordable and universal. “Hand hygiene is a public good – one that requires coordinated action, inclusive design and sustained investment,” the joint foreword from WHO and UNICEF declares. A simple act still out of reach for billions An estimated 1.7 billion people still lack basic hand hygiene services at home. Of these, 611 million have no facilities whatsoever – no soap and no running water. Without such basics, the most earnest public health messaging cannot prevent the spread of deadly infections, such as diarrhoea, cholera and pneumonia, which together claim hundreds of thousands of lives every year.

Categories