Global Handwashing Day


Image result for handwashingOctober 15th is the day Global Handwashing Day is celebrated every year, with the theme of “clean hands for all” in 2019. The Global Handwashing Day was established in 2008. This day is an international handwashing promotion campaign that motivates people all around the world to improve their handwashing habits. It also encourages creative and inventive ways to wash your hands. This global campaign raises the awareness and importance of handwashing with soap and how and when to wash in order to prevent disease transmission and saving lives. Every year over 200 million people worldwide celebrate this special day. 

Aims of Global Handwashing Day are to: 
  • Generate a culture of handwashing at right times with soap within all societies 
  • Raise awareness and importance about the benefits of handwashing with soap 
  • Highlights the inequalities and current status of handwashing in each country across the world 
Image result for handwashing

Why Handwashing? 

“Handwashing with soap is an easy, effective, and affordable do-it-yourself protection that prevents infections and saves lives.” (Global Handwashing Day 2019) 

1. Health 
Handwashing with soap saves lives. It prevents many common and life-threatening infections. Many illnesses begin when the hands become contaminated with bacteria and viruses, especially dangerous after using the toilet, sneezing, coughing etc. It is said that a single gram of human waste can contain 10 million viruses and 1 million bacteria, which highlights the dangers but also importance of thoroughly washing your hands (Global Handwashing Day 2019). Many deaths caused by diarrhoea and pneumonia are preventable through handwashing with soap. In a review of more than 40 studies it was found out that handwashing with soap can prevent approximately 4 out 10 cases of diarrhoea. Handwashing with soap also play a key role in preventing and slowing outbreaks. Handwashing saves lives. 

2. Nutrition 
Why is handwashing important to nutrition? Handwashing with soap is critical to scrubbing away harmful germs and bacteria that prevent the body's ability to absorb nutrients. Also, the WHO estimates that 50% of cases of child malnutrition is due to repeated diarrhoea and intestinal infections which is cause by poor hygiene and safe water. In this case handwashing is essential to maintaining a good nutrition by preventing illness and diseases like diarrhoea which can cause deficiencies in nutrition. Handwashing is the process that can break the cycle of diarrhoea and undernutrition. It is also estimated that drinking clean water and handwashing with soap can prevent loss of nutrients of up to 15% in children under the age of five (UNICEF 2013). Unbelievably handwashing with soap can help maintain nutrition within the body and keeping it healthy and stronger for longer. 

3. Education 
Handwashing and education are closely linked together. It is said the inadequate hygiene practices can lead to infections that contribute stunting. This can stagnate the development of a child's cognitive ability which sets students back from an early age in school. This is shocking. It is imaginable how handwashing can influence education, but it does. Furthermore, children who practice good hygiene tend to be healthier, which means they have greater attendance and have greater education opportunities to those who don’t. In a study published in 2016, schools with WASH programs would expect up to 50% reduction in absentees compared to schools who don’t. Ultimately there is enough evidence that shows that handwashing with soap empowers children to attend school more and thus strengthening education. 

4. Economic Impact 
There is an economic benefit to investing into handwashing initiatives, rather it is one of the most cost-effective investments in public health. Surprising right! Handwashing with soap is even feasible to invest in countries with the lowest per capita GDP.  The lack of investment in handwashing leads to additional healthcare cost, loss of life and decreased productivity. For example, a study showed that a national handwashing behaviour change program provide a 35-fold return on investment in China and 92-fold return in India. So why not? Handwashing proves to provide a positive economic impact to people. 

New Handwashing Campaign: Life is Better with Clean Hands 

In celebration of Global Handwashing Day, the CDC launched a new national campaign called ‘Life is Better with Clean Hands’. This campaign was designed to motivate a adults and parents to make clean hands a part of their daily lives. This campaign was used to raise awareness about the importance of handwashing at key time at home and outside. You can see the promotional posters and campaign resources here. 

Handwashing with soap is not expensive and educating a community on handwashing can reduce: 
  1. The number of people who get sick by about 23-40% 
  2. Absenteeism due to infections and illness in schools by 29-57% 
  3. Diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58% 
There are many benefits to this simple process. Some may see it as a life changing process and other won’t. BUT handwashing with soap saves lives. Overall, handwashing with soap is easy, effective and affordable. Global Handwashing Day is a driver of considering new and inventive ways to incorporate handwashing and raising the importance and awareness of handwashing around the world. 

Don't forget Global Handwashing Day, 15th October every year.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WaterAid in Africa

WaterAid the most well know NGO combatting the water and sanitation crisis in the African continent and the world. Who doesn’t who WaterAid are? WaterAid work in the toughest and hardest locations in the worlds. They fight to protect the basic human right of access to ‘ clean water, decent toilets and good hy giene’ ( WaterAid 2019). They are changing live for the better in 28 countries around the world. WaterAid has been working very hard since it started in 1981 starting its first ste ps in Zambia and Sri Lanka. This charity doesn’t only tackle the water crisis around the world who don’t have clean water access, but also battle against the sanitation war across our plant. Can you believe that right in 2019 there is 1 in 4 peop le who have a decent toilet of their own ( WaterAid 2019) . WaterAid has been battling hard with the help of donations combat this lif e changing problem.   Water is life.   WaterAid Tackling Inequality   WaterAid...
Read more

Water in Africa

Water is a precious resource that humans rely on in order to survive. A necessity. A foundation to life itself. Today we find that safe drinking water is scare on our planet. Figure 1 demonstrate the scarcity and importance of water found on Earth. The fact that there is only 2.5% of global water is freshwater. However, most importantly there are areas with water security and areas with water crisis across our planet today. Africa suffering from severe water crisis in general.  There are many different issues with water availability disparities and types of water scarcity that exist across the continent.   Water in Africa:   Africa is a continent consisting of 54 countries with more than 1.2 billion people residing on the continent (National Geographic 2018) . There is a reported 341 million people in Africa that have a lack of access to clean water despite the continent having what appears to be an abundance of water sources ( PANC  2010). I ...
Read more

UNICEF's WASH Changing the World

What is  WASH ?   WASH stands  for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. It is  a key public health issue that is the focus of international development and the Sustainable Development Goal 6 . That  ensures the  clean water and sanitation to all by 2030.  WASH is a term that incorporates three core issues in separate fi eld which are dependent on each other to function effectively. For example,  UNICEF  explains this by looking at toilets. Without toi lets, human waste will contaminate the water supply which will create  dirty  water , inhibiting the practice of good hygiene.   WHO  says, that the provision of WASH in healthcare facilities significantly help to prevent infections and the spread of diseases.  The WASH services protect staff, patient and vulnerable groups like the ill, pregnant and disabled. Yet still around the world  today, there nearly 2.4 billion people who don’t use improved  sanita...
Read more