The importance of sharing knowledge about hand hygiene among healthcare workers in Nigeria: A narrative review

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose a significant threat to millions of individuals globally, with Nigeria identified as one of the countries grappling with a high burden of HAIs. Despite a high level of knowledge about hand hygiene among healthcare workers in Nigeria, compliance remains low, attributed to a lack of support with handwashing resources at hospitals). This review aims to discuss the importance of sharing knowledge about hand hygiene among healthcare workers in Nigeria, outline strategies for knowledge sharing, and provide hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC) training resources. Narrative review approach was adopted where databases and internet materials were searched to get articles on the topic and were reviewed, analyzed and the results were presented in narrative form. The results revealed that sharing knowledge on hand hygiene among healthcare workers is important because it enhance patients’ safety, reduce health care cost, length of stay, and staffing ration. Additionally, it reduces antibiotics resistance, decrease mortality and enhance safety of staff. Therefore, it is recommended that training and education of HCWs on Hand hygiene should be continuous and frequently.