The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Healthcare (Advanced Draft) will be issued as a final version in 2007. At present it is important for countries and organisations to note that the Guidelines rep- resent a consensus of international experts and up to date technical information on hand hygiene improvement within a health care context across the world. The Guidelines are being pilot tested and it is likely that changes will be made to some of the technical content of the chapters in light of pilot test results. The Advanced Draft status offers WHO the opportunity to review and update the literature during the life of the Global Patient Safety Challenge to ensure that evidence is as contem- poraneous as possible on final publication. It is unlikely that the fundamental principles behind the guideline recommendations will change by the time the Guidelines are finalized in 2007. We welcome formal feedback on these guidelines. Feedback is invited using the AGREE methodology http://www.agreecollaboration.org/pdf/agreeinstrumentfinal.pdf WHO/EIP/SPO/QPS/05.2 © World Health Organization 2006 All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization can be obtained from WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (tel: +41 22 791 3264; fax: +41 22 791 4857; email:
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