Session 20

Hygiene literacy: key to a safer future?

Battling fear, myths, infections & AMR

Organised by The Danish Council for Better Hygiene and SafeConsume, sponsored by Curaden

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on gaps in European preparedness. Some basic measures and concepts in the scope of outbreak control have proven difficult to implement, not least because many people did not know much about infectious diseases or how to keep a healthy microbiome.

Hygiene literacy - meaning both a theoretical and practical understanding of our microbiological world and infection prevention measures we need to navigate it - has been deeply underprioritised in education, training, control, data collection, design, and staffing. This session will convene experts with experience in promotion and training for hand hygiene, food safety, oral care, cleaning, hygienical design and more – and will address how we can educate better, impact more, and build a stronger and more resilient culture for hygiene in Europe.

The session will focus on practical actions, learnings from the pandemic and balancing fear & misconceptions, and will envision a better design of policies, realities, and training efforts for the years to come.