2019 Global Hand Washing Day
2008 is the International Year of Sanitation, which was established by the UN General Assembly. It promotes the “Global Handwashing Day” initiative launched by the PPP Washing Public-Private Partnership (PPPHW), calling on countries around the world to start soaping activities on October 15 each year from 2008.
The event aims to develop and support a global and regional culture of washing hands with soap, paying attention to hand washing in various countries and increasing the promotion of the benefits of hand washing with soap or hand soap. As one of the sponsors of Global Handwashing Day, UNICEF actively promotes child-to-child hand washing campaigns through its offices around the world, calling on people to use action to wake everyone up to wash their hands properly, using soap or hand soap.
Washing hands, preventing disease health awareness; motivating people to improve their health behaviors, especially teaching children to develop good health attitudes and habits from childhood; advocating government and community to improve environmental sanitation, including hand washing facilities.
The meaning of washing your hands with soap or hand soap
Pneumonia and diarrhea are the leading causes of death among children under five. Every year, more than 3.5 million children worldwide are unable to celebrate their 5th birthday because of diarrhoea and pneumonia. Washing hands with soap can save millions of children. Hand washing can also prevent skin infections, eye infections, intestinal parasitic diseases, SARS and avian flu, and is beneficial to the health of cancer patients and people living with HIV.
Washing hands with soap is a life-saving intervention that is accessible to all countries and communities, both technically and economically. Advance this measure not only because it is good for health, but also because washing hands with soap makes people feel comfortable, can reflect a person’s social status and education, and washing hands can make people closer to each other.
Correct hand washing points
With regard to hand washing and advocating hand washing, the following 5 points need to be kept in mind.
1. Washing hands with water is not enough to wash bacteria
Washing hands with water only is a common practice in the world, and the efficiency is far lower than washing hands with soap or hand soap. Proper hand washing requires soap or hand soap and only a small amount of water. Use soap or hand soap to destroy the grease and dirt that carries most of the bacteria on your hands, and remove them by adding water. All soaps or hand sanitizers are equally effective at removing pathogenic bacteria as long as they are used correctly.
2. Washing your hands with soap or hand soap can help prevent a variety of germs that threaten children’s lives.
Washing hands with soap is one of the most effective ways to prevent diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, which are the leading causes of child death. Every year, more than 3.5 million children are unable to celebrate their 5th birthday because of diarrhoea and pneumonia. Hand washing can also prevent skin infections, eye infections, intestinal parasites, SARS and bird flu, and is beneficial to the health of people living with HIV and AIDS. Studies have shown that hand washing can effectively prevent the spread of disease, even in overcrowded, highly polluted slum environments.
3. The key moments of hand washing include: after going to the toilet, after cleaning the butt and cleaning the food
You must wash your hands after going to the toilet, cleaning your butt (or other human feces, including babies and children), and before touching any food. The hand is the main carrier of pathogenic bacteria. It is important to ensure that people can wash their hands in any way at these critical moments. Simple, inexpensive methods, such as tilting faucets (or drip taps), and even the poorest communities can be achieved economically and technically.
4. Proper hand washing is the cheapest and simplest health intervention
Hand washing is the cheapest compared to other commonly used long-term health interventions. The health benefit of investing $3.35 for hand washing is equivalent to investing $11 for toilet construction, which is equivalent to investing $200 for household water supply, equivalent to investing thousands of dollars for immunization programs. Investing in soaping hands can also increase the health benefits of investing in water and sanitation, and reduce health risks when families do not have basic sanitation and water services. Cost is not a barrier to hand washing. Almost all households in the world have soap, but they are usually used only for laundry, washing dishes, bathing, not washing their hands.
5. Children will be the messengers of change
When sharing good health practices, as a part of society, children are often the most powerful and enthusiastic group, and are willing to accept new things. After learning in the school’s “handwashing class”, they return to their homes and communities to become behavioral changes. Promoter. The active participation of children (ideally, where children are located at the intersection of families, schools, and communities), when combined with culturally-friendly (sensitive) community-based interventions, ensures sustainable behavioral change. The goal of Global Handwashing Day is to motivate children to receive and share correct handwashing practices, placing them as “handwashing ambassadors” at the heart of national and local activities.
The correct method of hand washing requires everyone to master and practice it. Only every family, every school, every community, the whole country and the whole world can adhere to the correct method of hand washing and develop good hand washing habits. Its social health benefits can be reflected, and “Global Handwashing Day” will be “not just a commemorative day!”