LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Global Handwashing Day - October 15 Global Handwashing Day - October 15
Logo used for Global Handwashing Day around the world. Shown in the image is water, soap, and hand
Global Handwashing Day is a campaign to motivate and mobilize millions around the world to wash their hands with soap, the campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of handwashing with soap as a key approach to disease prevention.The Global Handwashing Day will take place for the first time on October 15, 2008, the date appointed by UN General Assembly in accordance with year 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.
Five Facts Everyone Should Know about Handwashing with Soap
1
Washing hands with water alone is not enough! Washing hands with water alone, a common practice around the world, is significantly less effective than washing hands with soap.Proper handwashing requires soap and only a small amount of water.Using soap works by breaking down the grease and dirt that carry most germs, facilitating the rubbing and friction that dislodge them and leaving hands smelling pleasant. The clean smell and feeling that soap creates are incentives for its use. With proper use, all soaps are equally effective at rinsing away disease-causing germs.
2
Handwashing with soap can prevent diseases that kill millions of children every year.Handwashing with soap is among the most effective ways to prevent diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for
the majority of child deaths. Every year, more than 3.5 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhea and pneumonia. Handwashing can also prevent skin infections, eye infections, intestinal worms, SARS and Avian Flu, and benefits the health of people living with HIV/AIDS. Handwashing is effective in preventing the spread of disease even in overcrowded, highly contaminated slum environments, research shows.
3
The critical moments for handwashing with soap are after using the toilet or cleaning a child and before handling food.Hands should be washed with soap after using the toilet, after cleaning a child’s bottom (or any other contact with human excreta,including that of babies and children) and before any contact with food. Hands are the principal carriers of disease-causing germs.
It is important to ensure that people have a way to wash their hands at these critical moments. Simple, low-cost solutions like Tippy Taps are within the financial and technological reach of even the poorest communities.
4
Handwashing with soap is the single most cost-effective health intervention.
Handwashing promotion is cost-effective when compared with other frequently funded health interventions. A $3.35 investment in handwashing brings the same health benefits as an $11.00 investment in latrine construction, a $200.00 investment in household water supply and an investment of thousands of dollars in immunization.Investments in the promotion of handwashing with soap can also maximize the health benefits of investments in water supply and sanitation infrastructure and reduce health risks when families do not have access to basic sanitation and water supply services.Cost is not typically a barrier to handwashing promotion; almost all
households in the world already have soap – though it is commonly used for laundry, dish washing and bathing rather than for handwashing.
5
Social marketing approaches that center on the potential handwasher and his or her specific motivations are more effective than traditional disease-focused approaches.Research shows that handwashing behavior can be changed on a large scale through the use of social marketing approaches. The key is to view the potential handwasher as a consumer and then research that consumer’s handwashing habits, as well as the factors that might encourage him or her to adopt new handwashing behaviors; design
appropriate messages that appeal to the consumer’s needs, wishes and preferences; and implement promotion programs that make use of a variety of message delivery channels.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by gurusam 