Webinar | Hand Hygiene in Schools: From Guidance to Everyday Practice

Description

WHO and UNICEF convened this webinar on 17 September 2026 with the WASH in Schools (WinS) community to explore how the WHO/UNICEF Global Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings (https://www.who.int/publications/i/it...) can be translated into everyday practice in schools.

The webinar examined what the global recommendations mean for schools and how they can be embedded within existing WASH in Schools systems, policies and routines. Country experiences from India, the Philippines and South Africa illustrate practical approaches to education-sector leadership, monitoring, financing, operation and maintenance, behaviour change and progressive improvement.

Programme:

00:00 Opening and introductions – Nga Nguyen, UNICEF WASH
02:08 Housekeeping and accessibility – Nga Nguyen, UNICEF WASH
05:01 Welcome and webinar purpose – Lindsay Denny Naughton, UNICEF WASH
06:40 WHO/UNICEF global hand hygiene guidance – Joanna Esteves Mills, WHO WASH
18:33 What the guidelines mean for schools – Marije Broekhuijsen, UNICEF WASH in Schools
32:45 India: scaling and institutionalizing hand hygiene in schools – Pratibha Singh, UNICEF India
50:15 Philippines: systems, monitoring and the Three Star Approach – Dr Miguel Angelo Mantaring, Department of Education, Philippines
1:01:00 South Africa: national WinS implementation and the Three Star Approach – Zanele Mnguni, Department of Basic Education, South Africa
1:22:18 Audience perspectives and live poll – Nga Nguyen, UNICEF WASH
1:26:33 Closing reflections, Q&A themes and next steps – Joanna Esteves Mills, WHO WASH

Key themes included applying the WHO/UNICEF global hand hygiene recommendations in schools; making hand hygiene part of everyday school routines; strengthening government and education-sector leadership; ensuring reliable access to water, soap and appropriate facilities; addressing operation and maintenance and recurrent financing; improving monitoring, accountability and the use of data; using the Three Star Approach and broader WinS systems-strengthening approaches; drawing on experiences and lessons from India, the Philippines and South Africa; and responding to challenges identified by webinar participants and priorities for further implementation support.

The webinar also highlighted the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme WASH in Schools progress update launched in September 2026 and ongoing work to develop practical tools to support implementation of the global hand hygiene guidelines.

Recorded: 17 September 2026