A report from the Global Hygiene Council (GHC) directs governments and health officials to focus more on infection prevention to fight against the threats of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and other infectious disease.    

The recommendation is one of four key pillars of change identified by a global panel of experts of GHC in 2022 for improving and maintaining the adoption of proper hygiene habits and enhancing readiness for pandemics in the future through AMR-sensitive infection prevention and control tools. 

The other pillars of change include: Building the hygiene lessons learned from COVID-19; Quantifying the economic benefits of hygiene; Establishing strong hygiene habits.        

The GHC experts concurred that hygiene practices such as targeted surface cleaning of high-contact areas in hospitals, can help reduce the need for antibiotics and should be considered alongside AMR-specific interventions, including antimicrobial stewardship and the development of new antibiotics.         

Only 11 out of 77 national AMR actions plans enlisted by WHO include WASH recommendations for community settings. 

As a result, GHC urged all nations to incorporate the WHO Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) recommendations into their national AMR action plans.      

The report also urges future public health campaigns and infection prevention and control policies to ensure access to clean water and hygiene resources to help prevent the spread of infections (including those that are drug resistant) and to provide reasonable information on evidence-based practices.