Global Hygiene Council (GHC)
LONDON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/
A new report released today by the Global Hygiene Council (GHC), an independent body of leading experts in hygiene and infection prevention, calls for urgent action to improve home and community hygiene in post-COVID-19 pandemic preparedness plans to give priority. The GHC calls on governments and policymakers to emphasize the importance of hygiene to protect millions of lives.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shows signs of ending, the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) “silent pandemic” continues, with AMR recognized as one of the top human health threats. In 2019, 4.95 million deaths were associated with AMR Linked, underscoring their status as one of the biggest for human health. If left unchecked, that number could reach 10 million deaths a year by 2050. The GHC report, entitled Making Hygiene Matter, underscores the importance home and community hygiene for infection control and the prevalence of AMR.
The report identifies four pillars for change, including promoting hygiene awareness in everyday life, reducing the need for antibiotics through hygiene practices, recognizing the economic benefits of effective hygiene, and encouraging behavioral change to establish strong hygiene habits.
Microbiologist and Professor Emeritus at Simmons University, Boston, USA and GHC Chair Elizabeth Scott comments:
“The new GHC report comes at the right time and contains concrete hygiene recommendations for changes. We must act now to protect public health – good hygiene is one of the cheapest, easiest and most accessible solutions to prevent infection and save lives.”
The beneficial side effects of increased hygiene practices during the COVID-19 pandemic are now evident. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a decrease in the prevalence of other diseases, including cases of seasonal influenza and other seasonal respiratory viruses, with a significant reduction in the number of common illnesses in children. Scientists have confirmed that there is a “clear consensus” that the reason other respiratory diseases have declined during the pandemic was due to human behavior and hygiene-based mitigation measures.
The GHC urges governments, policymakers and health authorities to adopt and implement the report’s recommendations as they respond to existing and emerging infectious disease threats, including AMR.
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Original content from: Global Hygiene Council (GHC), transmitted by news aktuell
