As Taiwan battles the worst drought in a decade, beginning April 8, 2015, the third-stage water restrictions: rationing the region’s water supplies (by zone or by time of day) to maintain a minimum level of water will be implemented in New Taipei City, Taoyuan City and Hsinchu City. The public is reminded of the significance of hand hygiene especially during the drought period. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) advises washing hands with soap and water is the best way to minimize the number of microbes on them. However, when soap and water are not available, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing 60-95% alcohol is also effective in cleaning hands and warding off infections.

The 7^th International Congress of the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control was held at the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) during March 26 and 29, 2015. Participants include domestic and international infection prevention and control experts. The congress was held to facilitate the exchange of information and data on infection prevention and control. During the congress, the Ministry of Health and Welfare Deputy Minister Lin Tzou-yien discussed the importance of hand hygiene during droughts with Professor Didier Pittet who led the WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care program, Dr. Andreas Voss who is a co-founder of the International Consortium for Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC), and Prof. Stephan Harbarth who is in charge of the Infection Control Programme at Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. All of them agreed that alcohol-based sanitizers is a useful alternative to clean hands during droughts.

Taiwan CDC stresses that to effectively clean hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, one needs to apply a minimum of 2-3ml of the sanitizer to the palm of one hand and rub the sanitizer over all surfaces of hands and fingers for a minimum of 20-30 seconds until hands are dry. The public is recommended to get alcohol-based hand sanitizers for cleaning hands during this drought period. In addition, restaurant owners are also urged to provide alcohol-based hand sanitizers at their restaurants for use by their workers and customers in order to ensure sanitation and hygiene for all. The public is urged to save water and take measures to prevent infection at the same time to make it through the drought together.

According to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), alcohol-based hand sanitizers intended for medical use such as sterilization, disinfection and surgical scrub should be regulated as drugs, while those intended for non-medical use such as regular cleaning of hands should be regulated as regular commodities. Hand sanitizers intended for non-medical use must not claim to have medical effects such as sterilization and disinfection. The public is advised to purchase alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60-90% alcohol. Currently, there are about 27 different brands of alcohol-based hand sanitizers approved by TFDA available for purchase to the general public in the market.