As the world marks Global Handwashing Day, stakeholders in Ethiopia are renewing efforts to strengthen hand hygiene systems as a cornerstone of public health, disease prevention, and emergency preparedness. Government institutions, development partners, civil society organizations, and media representatives gathered in Addis Ababa to review findings from Ethiopia’s Hand Hygiene for All (HH4A) Enabling Environment Assessment and identify actions to advance hand hygiene systems across community settings.
The national stakeholders’ workshop brought together representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water and Energy, Ministry of Transport, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, WaterAid, CARE, World Vision, IRC-WASH, iDE, Water For Good, PSI, media organizations, and other partners.
The workshop reviewed progress and challenges in creating an enabling environment for sustainable hand hygiene interventions in households, schools, workplaces, public institutions, and communities. Participants examined findings from the HH4A Enabling Environment Assessment, which evaluates governance, financing, human capacity, and monitoring systems that support hand hygiene implementation.
Hand hygiene remains one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, helping prevent infectious diseases and strengthen community resilience. Observed annually on 15 October, Global Handwashing Day serves as a reminder that handwashing with soap is a simple yet powerful practice that can save lives, reduce disease transmission, and improve health outcomes.
The workshop highlighted the importance of translating global guidance, including the WHO and UNICEF Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings, into practical actions that improve access to handwashing facilities, promote behaviour change, and strengthen national systems.
“Hand hygiene is a highly cost-effective way to protect health, and COVID-19 demonstrated that it is a frontline defence in emergency and pandemic response. Yet attention too often fades once the emergency passes. We need sustained political commitment, dedicated financing, and clear accountability to make hand hygiene part of routine planning in every sector.”
Waltaji Terfa Kutane, Health and Environment Officer, WHO Ethiopia
Through group discussions, participants identified several priority challenges affecting HH4A implementation in Ethiopia. These included inadequate political commitment and prioritization of hand hygiene, weak accountability and leadership ownership, fragmented financing, limited human and institutional capacity, and weak monitoring and information systems. Participants noted that although hand hygiene often receives heightened attention during public health emergencies, sustained investments and routine implementation remain limited.
Stakeholders also highlighted the need for stronger multisectoral coordination, improved data systems, dedicated financing mechanisms, clearer accountability arrangements, and setting-specific standards and targets. Poor integration of hand hygiene indicators into monitoring systems, insufficient advocacy, inadequate resource mobilization, and limited technical capacity were identified as key barriers to sustainable progress.
To address these challenges, participants recommended a set of priority actions, including high-level advocacy to secure stronger political commitment; integration of hand hygiene into sector plans, budgets, and performance reviews; establishment of clear accountability mechanisms; strengthened domestic resource mobilization; development of dedicated financing and expenditure-tracking systems; enhanced technical and institutional capacity; and improved data collection, analysis, and use for decision-making.
The workshop also called for revitalizing existing multisectoral coordination platforms, strengthening collaboration among the health, water, education, and other sectors, and expanding engagement with media and professional associations to sustain awareness and behaviour change efforts. Participants emphasized the importance of developing and disseminating setting-specific standards and targets to ensure consistent implementation across community settings.
As a way forward, stakeholders agreed on the need to maintain momentum through continued dialogue, stronger partnerships, and joint resource mobilization efforts. Recommendations from the assessment and workshop discussions will be shared with relevant ministries and decision-makers to support high-level action and implementation of the HH4A roadmap.
As Ethiopia commemorates Global Handwashing Day, the workshop underscores the country’s commitment to ensuring that hand hygiene remains a national public health priority. Strengthening hand hygiene systems will not only help prevent the spread of infectious diseases but also contribute to healthier communities, improved preparedness for future health emergencies, and progress toward universal access to safe hygiene services for all.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.