The forgotten step in hand hygiene: a look at hand drying practices in the VFSM survey

Handwashing is a cornerstone defense against the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study explores knowledge of proper handwashing techniques among participants in the Village Food Safety Movement (VFSM) Program across all 34 Indonesian provinces. We conducted a Pre-Post Intervention survey to assess the knowledge of proper handwashing techniques. The survey revealed a low percentage of correct responses concerning proper handwashing techniques across all four respondent groups: housewives, youth, the household food industry, and the ready-to-eat food industry. Even after the intervention, correct response rates remained below 30 in these groups. The respondents from schools (77) and retail (61) showed a slightly higher percentage of correct responses after the intervention, but it remained below the ideal standard of 80. This highlights a critical knowledge gap: proper handwashing includes thorough drying after washing hands. This study reveals a concerning lack of understanding about the complete handwashing process, potentially hindering efforts to prevent disease transmission and AMR in Indonesia. Future research should prioritize interventions that specifically address hand drying practices in addition to washing techniques. Policymakers and healthcare professionals should integrate hand drying education into their AMR control strategies. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).