When health professionals in hospitals have clean hands, infection rates go down. Yet many of them don't wash their hands often enough.Now a South African study has shown that having a "hand hygiene champion" in each ward can make a big difference.It is part of a model promoted by the World Health Organisation.Cape Town's Groote Schuur CEO Bhavna Patel and fellow researchers said that about one in seven patients, or 14%, in South African public health facilities are at risk of getting an infection while they are in hospital.Patel said such infections "remain a global concern"- especially with the rise of superbugs in the wake of indiscriminate antibiotics use - and that almost one third of them are preventable.Even in intensive care units where it is vital, health-care workers "fail to wash their hands more than half of the recommended times".According to the WHO, "hands are the main pathways of germ transmission during health care", which is why "thousands of people die every day around the world from infections" acquired this way.The researchers implemented the five-point WHO approach between June and August last year in 11 different wards at Groote Schuur Hospital.Each ward selected a hand hygiene champion who facilitated the activities of the intervention, said Patel.This included training other staff using a standardised presentation, providing ad hoc training where necessary, and being involved in all aspects of the intervention in their ward.The approach also included educational presentations and posters placed above wash basins.Also, health-care workers were observed to check for compliance, and monthly feedback sessions took place.The results were positive as more staff began sanitising their hands before and after dealing with patients.Among the nearly 500 personnel involved, hand hygiene for "before patient contact" went up by 18% and for "after patient contact" by 23%.The researchers said all aspects had helped but the ward champions had had the biggest effect.David Williams, a health-care business consultant, said technology could also be used to keep track of whether health-care professionals were adhering to good hand-hygiene practices or not.Harsh penalties for lack of compliance, he said, could make a big difference.Patel's study, it is hoped, will be "replicated in other wards"...