SARAYA’s alcohol-based handrub production in Uganda (Video)

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are the largest threat to patient safety, leading to disability, mortality, and financial burden on healthcare systems. Hand hygiene, using alcohol-based handrub (ABHR), is the single most effective way to prevent HAIs. In Africa, where importing ABHR from northern countries is unsafe and expensive, local production is critical to improve hand hygiene practices in a sustainable way.

In Uganda (East Africa), local production of ABHR is considered one of the keys to promote hand hygiene in health care. In a unique social business venture model, we are working with a large sugar production company (Kakira Sugar Ltd.®) to make ABHR locally following international standards by using the byproducts of sugar production from sugar cane. The following video, made during the visit of Prof. Didier Pittet, Director of the IPC program, in Geneva, Switzerland, tells the story of this project, initiated in 2009, as a public-private partnership between the Uganda Health authorities and SARAYA, operating with the assistance of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety in Geneva and Clean Hands Save Lives.

As a company that produces many healthcare products, including alcohol-based handrub, we are also strongly committed to raising awareness about the importance of hand hygiene. We hope that this video inspires other organizations around the world to develop projects that combine public and private partners for the greater good.

If you want to learn why SARAYA started working in Uganda in more detail, please visit this link.