Effective hand hygiene is essential for reducing the transmission of infectious diseases in both community and healthcare environments. Although commercial handwashes often claim antibacterial activity, their effectiveness. varies based on formulation and user practices. This study assessed the antibacterial efficacy of eight commercially available handwashes (HW1 – HW8) against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans using the agar well diffusion method, with zones of inhibition measured to evaluate antimicrobial performance. Among the tested products, HW8, HW5, and HW4 demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activity against all test organisms, while HW7 showed the least activity. To evaluate the effectiveness of handwashing in reducing microbial load, optical density (OD at 600 nm) measurements were taken from samples collected from the palms of 20 volunteers before and after washing with HW8. Results indicated a notable reduction in microbial load following handwashing, with percentage reductions ranging from 28.98% to 66.67%. The highest reductions were recorded for Volunteer 6 (66.67%), Volunteer 16 (65.98%), and Volunteer 10 (63.78%), reflecting efficient removal of microbial contaminants. These findings underscore the importance of evidence-based selection of hand hygiene products to ensure effective pathogen removal, thereby supporting infection prevention practices while maintaining hand hygiene standards.

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