Ministry of Public Health Hosts Awareness Session to Champion Hand Hygiene in Fight Against Infectious Diseases

The session, spearheaded by Deputy Minister for Health Services Provision, H.E. Mawlawi Abdul Wali Haqqani, convened senior officials from the Ministry’s central directorates, representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), and a cadre of frontline health professionals.

In his keynote address, Mr. Haqqani highlighted the religious and medical imperatives of cleanliness, emphasizing that handwashing serves as a frontline defense against a host of communicable diseases—including diarrhoea, cholera, pneumonia, and COVID-19. Drawing on both Islamic teachings and evidence-based practices, he framed hand hygiene not merely as a medical necessity but as a moral obligation.

The Deputy Minister further outlined the Ministry's ongoing interventions in this area and called on all relevant stakeholders to rally behind the national guidelines on hand hygiene. He urged health institutions to embed handwashing habits into their daily routines to stem the tide of preventable diseases.

Adding momentum to the campaign, Dr. Wahdat Alokozai, Director-General of Curative Medicine, delivered a comprehensive briefing on the multifaceted role of hand hygiene in clinical settings. He underscored the pressing need for adequate handwashing facilities in hospitals and clinics, stressing that their absence could open the floodgates to outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections.