Awareness Day

Global Handwashing Day

October 15, 2026 Recurs yearly

Child washing hands with soap at a school handwashing station while other children follow the example.

2026 Theme

Be a Handwashing Hero

Hand, Soap and Water symbols

Campaign Representation

Officially represented by the Composite Icons Symbol.

Campaign Description

Global Handwashing Day advocates for hand hygiene as a simple yet powerful tool to prevent infections and save lives.

Theme Focus

The 2026 theme focus on making handwashing with soap a routine behavior at critical times and encouraging people, institutions and communities to actively promote access to and practice of good hand hygiene.

Key Priorities

  • Make handwashing with soap a habit, not simply an occasional health campaign.
  • Promote handwashing at critical times, particularly after using the toilet and before preparing or eating food.
  • Ensure people have reliable access to soap, water and appropriate handwashing facilities.
  • Improve hand hygiene in homes, schools, healthcare facilities and workplaces.
  • Address inequalities in access to basic hygiene facilities.
  • Use behavior-change approaches that make handwashing practical and sustainable.
  • Encourage parents, teachers, healthcare workers, community leaders and others to model good hand hygiene.
  • Connect handwashing with prevention of infectious diseases and healthcare-associated infections.
  • Recognize hand hygiene as part of broader WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) efforts.
  • Encourage investment in infrastructure and policies that make good hand hygiene possible for everyone.

Key Concepts

  • Handwashing
  • Hand hygiene
  • Soap and water
  • Critical times
  • Infection prevention
  • Infectious diseases
  • WASH
  • Hygiene behavior
  • Sanitation
  • Clean water
  • Hygiene facilities
  • Healthcare-associated infections
  • Diarrheal diseases
  • Food hygiene
  • School hygiene
  • Community health
  • Public health
  • Health equity

Campaign Resources & Support

View Awareness Calendar