Soap and sanitizer distribution programs
Hand hygiene is the cornerstone of infection control and reduces rates of healthcare associated infections. However, effective handwashing with soap requires reliable access to water supplies. However, more than three billion people do not have household-level access to piped water
Advantages / Benefits
Sanitizer distribution programs improve hand hygiene, which in turn reduces the chances to contract desease
Hand sanitizer and soap kill all bacteria and micro-organisms and are very portable
Disadvantages
Some of the brands available on the market are of indadequate quality and efficiency
Others are not safe for children under five and may cause eye irritation, stomachache and vomiting
Hand sanitizer and soap may kill both good and bad bacteria
Some hand sanitizing products are flameable and should be kept away from flameable objects
Who involved
Governments, NGOs
Information sources
Evidence of success
The alcohol-based hand sanitizer wasmuch more effective in reducing levels of harmful bacteria compared with handwashing with soap and water in field conditions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2813169/); In a primary school study in Nairobi, Kenya, providing waterless hand sanitizer increased student hand cleaning whereas the soap intervention did not (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3771275/)
Feasibility
Water-constrained areas; particularly in hospitals and schools, where communicabale diseases can be transmitted quickly and easily because of close contact
