The Global Handwashing Partnership

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The Global Handwashing Partnership is a coalition of international stakeholders working to promote handwashing with soap and recognize hygiene as a pillar of international development and public health.

The Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) was established in 2001. Our member organizations today include government agencies, multilateral organizations, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions.

The GHP works to develop and share knowledge to strengthen handwashing implementation. We also work to build political commitment and trigger action to promote handwashing at local, national, and international levels, including through advocacy initiatives, such as Global Handwashing Day.

We are guided by a global vision that proper handwashing with soap at critical times will be universally recognized, promoted, and practiced as fundamental to good health.

We believe that:

• Handwashing is a priority behavior for international development that improves health, nutrition, education, economic development, and equity.
• Everyone in the world can be empowered and motivated to protect their own health, and the health of others, through handwashing with soap.
• Partnering across sectors can increase the impact of handwashing promotion and  practices to make handwashing with soap universal.

We serve as:

• A reliable, cutting-edge knowledge resource for handwashing behavior change programs and cross-sector initiatives.
• Catalysts for hygiene advocacy, seeking commitments to hygiene at every level.
• Conveners for handwashing partnerships, harnessing diverse expertise, ideas, and reach to maximize impact.

We work towards our vision by strengthening the hygiene enabling environment and helping handwashing programs move from knowledge to action. We welcome others who also work to address the global hygiene challenge to join us!