ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The need to prevent and control healthcare-acquired infections is said to be boosting the hand hygiene market in Western Europe.

Outbreaks of norovirus and avian flu over the past five years have highlighted the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of diseases.

A paper entitled: Hand Hygiene Market in Western Europe published by Frost and Sullivan has revealed that the market earned revenues of US $415.4 million(299.7 million euros) in 2013 and this figure is expected to reach $680.8 million (491 million euros) in 2019.

Alcohol-based handrubs are tipped to become the most popular solution in the hand disinfectant and surgical hand antisepsis segments due to their efficiency and ease of use.

"The adoption of hand hygiene compliance monitoring devices in hospitals across Western Europe is improving compliance levels considerably, thereby fueling market revenues," says Frost and Sullivan Healthcare research analyst Parthasarathy Raghava.

Government initiatives are also helping to boost the market, say analysts. These include the launch of the World Health Organisation's 'Clean Care is Safer Care' programme that focuses on HAI prevention and patient safety through hand hygiene techniques and effective disinfection.

National awareness campaigns are said to be further improving hand hygiene compliance by reinforcing patients' right to insist on hand hygiene. However, market potential varies across Western Europe since inadequate awareness, education, and training along with the lack of standard hand hygiene regulations are proving to be market restraints in some countries.

The research covers hand wash, hand disinfectant and surgical hand antisepsis products across the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia.