Geneva - A simple alcohol-based hand-wash could help save patients` lives worldwide and cut hospital costs dramatically, according to the World Health Organization.
A year after it launched its Global Patient Safety Challenge to cut patient mortality, WHO claims the benefits of using the alcohol- based product is apparent.
Campaign leader at the WHO`s World Alliance for Patient Safety, Didier Pittet said tests at the University Hospital in Geneva, using the solution, indicated a reduction in infections of 25 per cent.
In Switzerland where 17,000 patients are infected every year, the annual saving to hospitals would be around 60 million Swiss francs (48 million US dollars), he said.
"A successful campaign will cost less than 1 per cent of the cost of infections in hospitals," he said, adding, "It is probably one of the most cost effective strategies in public health."
Around 1.4 million patients around the world at any one time may be suffering from infections picked up in hospitals. In the developed world that is between 5 and 10 per cent of all patients admitted.
In the United States there are about 2 million cases a year and about 80,000 deaths to be cared for costing between 4 and 6 billion US dollars annually. In England, there are more than 100,000 cases every year, of which more than 5,000 are fatal at a cost of 1.9 billion US dollars.
In developing countries the proportion of patients affected is much higher up to 25 per cent.
Pittet said after trials in eight other countries, the campaign now had to change the thinking of hospital staff.
"Nurses have been told for very many years to use soap and water and now we have to change it and that is an entire process."
Health Ministers from 35 countries have already signed a WHO pledge to introduce the hand-wash to their national hospitals.