Global Hand Washing Day

By Sherif El-Herraoui On Oct 15, 2013

globalhandwashingday

October 15th is Global Hand Washing Day!

What?! There’s a global day for hand washing? Yup.

You might think it’s a no-brainer, but clean hands save lives.

Regular hand washing with water and soap not only kills germs that would make you sick, it protects you from transmitting such germs to other surfaces and people and making them sick.

Sicknesses include the droplet and air borne diseases such as the flu, pneumonia, measles and chicken pox and feco-oral diseases that cause stomach upsets and diarrhea, in addition to direct contact contagious diseases like impetigo.

In 2008, the World Health Organization declared that regular hand washing has been shown to cut the number of child deaths from diarrhea (the second leading cause of child deaths) by almost half and from pneumonia (the leading cause of child deaths) by one-quarter.

This is how important it is to spread the behavior of proper hand washing with clean running water and soap. The ironic thing is that hand washing is a religious ritual in many religions across the world, including the three Abrahamic faiths.

So when and how often should you wash your hands? Here’s a list:

Before, during and after food preparation, especially raw meat or poultry
After using the toilet or changing a diaper
After touching an animal or animal toys, leashes, or waste
After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands
Before and after treating wounds or caring for a sick or injured person
After handling garbage, household or garden chemicals, or anything that could be contaminated — such as a cleaning cloth or soiled shoes
Before using contact lenses

So what can you do? First of all, spread the awareness among your family members and co-workers. Here’s how to properly wash your hands using water and soap.

You can also urge your boss at the workplace to keep toilets clean with available soap and dry towels at all times. If you’re at school, demand for the same. Hang ads and infographics promoting hand washing after using the toilets and before eating at toilets and cafeterias in work or at school. Hang the infographics showing the six steps of proper hand washing techniques.

For more info and resources, visit. http://globalhandwashing.org

Happy Global Hand Washing day and stay safe!

WE SAID THIS: Who knew hand washing was such a big problem?!