Table Of ContentCLEAN
HANDS
SAVE LIVES
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THIERRY CROUZET
CLEAN
HANDS
SAVE LIVES
TRANSLATION THOMAS CLEGG
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tcrouzet.com
(cc) by-nc-nd, 2014, L’Âge d’Homme, Tierry Crouzet & Tomas Clegg
L’Âge d’Homme, CP 5076, 1002 Lausanne (Suisse)
5, rue Férou, 75006 Paris (France)
www.lagedhomme.com
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MAKE A DONATION
Te author cedes his rights to the Clean Hands Save
Lives Fund created by Didier Pittet under the auspices
of the Fondation Philanthropia – CleanHandsSave-
Lives.org. Each time you buy a copy of this book you
are giving a doctor, a nurse, a healthcare ofcer, or a
frst-aid worker in disadvantaged countries a bottle of
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alcohol-based handrub and thereby saving lives. Our
publisher, Editions L’Âge d’Homme, also supports this
initiative.
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LEGAL NOTICES
Clean Hands Save Lives, version 1.0 or later, is published
under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license version
4.0 or later (authorship of the work must to be attributed
to Tierry Crouzet—tcrouzet.com, and to Tomas Clegg
for the English translation, without modifcation and
for non-commercial use only). You can copy the text
and distribute it free of charge. If you have obtained
this text for free and wish to thank Tierry Crouzet
and the editorial team, then please buy a printed copy
in a bookstore. Te cover photograph is copyrighted
by Jean Baptiste Huynh—jeanbaptistehuynh.com. Te
illustrations are under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND
by Pécub–pecub.ch.
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FOREWORD
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When the implications of the work of the 19 century
pioneers in hospital infection—such as Semmelweis,
Nightingale, and Lister—were fully understood they
were seen as a revolution in health care safety prac-
tices. It would be inconceivable to those pioneers that
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patients in the 21 century would still be dying from
infections related to their care. Indeed, they would be
truly shocked to learn that the underlying problem of
cleanliness continues to be the source of infections in
modern hospitals. Yet, around the world, people die
or become ill in hospitals every day because they are
exposed to bacteria carried on the hands of those who
are caring for them.
Clean Care is Safer Care was the very frst Global
Patient Safety Challenge started by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as part of its inaugural program of
patient safety initiated in response to the World Health
Assembly Resolution 55.18 in 2002. A key element of
the Global Challenge was the commitment to improve
hand hygiene. Clean hands became the Challenge’s
most visible goal, and this approach resonated with
patients and families, clinicians and managers, health
ministers and journalists.
Experts and scientists worldwide came together to
produce a comprehensive set of evidence-based hand
hygiene guidelines and the Challenge was embraced
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throughout the WHO’s regions with great enthusiasm
and commitment.
Tere was innovation too. Te introduction of alco-
hol-based handrubs was shown to be more efective
than soap and water. More importantly, its use over-
came the lack of easy access to a sink, or in hospitals in
poorer countries, to any water supply at all.
Successful global programs require great lead-
ership. This book is about restoring the value and
virtues of cleanliness firmly established by Florence
Nightingale all those years ago. It is about showing
how a world committed to health care can embrace
a positive change. It is about how lives can be saved.
Most of all, it is about how a great leader can inspire,
galvanize action, transform existing practices and
sustain the benefit of changes.
This book is the story of how one leader, Didier
Pittet, successfully realized his dream of saving lives
through clean hands worldwide, with the support of
the WHO.
It is about how he brought his skill, his experience,
his academic rigor and his generosity, honed and devel-
oped in the hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, to serve
patients and families around the world. Few are aware
of his contribution or even know his name, but many
owe their health and their lives to him.
WHO is fortunate that Didier Pittet said “yes”
when the call went out for his help. We are grateful
for his exemplary leadership and for the bonds that
he has helped us to forge with health systems and
academic institutions around the world to make care
safer. Much can be learned from the story told so well
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and so inspirationally in this book. It deserves a wide
readership.
Dr. Margaret Chan,
Director-General,
World Health Organization
Sir Liam Donaldson,
Patient Safety Envoy,
World Health Organization
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A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the
meter running.
Groucho Marx
One of the cafés had that brilliant idea of
putting up a slogan: ‘the best protection
against infection is a good bottle of wine’,
which confrmed an already prevalent
opinion that alcohol is a safeguard against
infectious disease.
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Albert Camus, Te Plague, 1947
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