“Prevention is better than cure”

Clean hands are the most important factor in preventing the spread of pathogen in health care setting. Proper hand hygiene reduces the incidence of health care associated infections because the hands of healthcare workers can transmit pathogens that cause nosocomial infections. According to an estimate by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), nosocomial infection is the fourth major cause of deaths in the US, with an infection rate of 10 per cent. Though no statistics are available, according to infection control experts, HAI could be between 10 and 30 per cent in India too. Hospital acquired infection is a problem in both developed and developing countries and are an important cause of death. They contribute to a significant burden both for patients and for public health. As per the survey conducted by W.H.O, average of 8.7% of hospital patients had nosocomial infection. At any time, over 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infectious complications acquired in hospital. Highest incidence of HAI occurs in surgical units and intensive care units. HAI is an important cause of death and economic costs are considerable. This includes cost of additional stay in hospital, drugs, laboratory investigation, loss of work, bed occupancy, delayed discharge, delayed care of other needy patient and more work for health care worker. Health associated infection cannot be completely eradicated. But could be controlled by adherence to proper hand hygiene practices.