Why washing hands is surest way to beat death in schools

Today we join the rest of the world in marking Global Hand Washing Day. This year’s theme: “Clean Hands – A Recipe for Health” with a focus on the link between hand washing and food – food hygiene and nutrition.

As an annual event, the day is meant to mobilise and motivate people around the world to recognize the benefits of and improve their hand washing habits by using soap and running water. Numerous associated research studies have shown that many young children in developing countries do not washtheir hands with clean water and soap.

Globally, every 23 seconds, a child dies from preventable causes such as pneumonia and/or diarrhoea. The simple act of hand washing with soap is the single most effective way to stop childhood deaths. It can reduce the spread of pneumonia by 23% and diarrhoea by up to 45 per cent.

Why it’s critical

In Kenya, the need for hand washing education and practice in schools is most relevant because of the high likelihood of faecal contamination of the school environment.  

Many schools, especially in rural settings, have few latrines, inadequate water supplies, poor quality of available water sources, water storage in containers that permit hands to touch and contaminate stored water and lack of hand-washingfacilities.

Besides impacting on school attendance, the resulting burden of diarrhoeal diseases and parasitic infestations has a negative impact on students’ growth, nutritional status, physical activities, cognition, concentration and schoolperformance. Well-practiced and consistent hand-washingskills can also result to significant benefits in reducing incidences of gastro-intestinal and respiratory infections

Hand washing with soap and water is more crucial for children under five and those of primary school going age.  It is therefore very important that health education about handhygiene is introduced very early to influence healthy behaviours since lifestyle and behavioural choices are made in childhood.

WHO says hand hygiene interventions significantly reduce infectious illness yet they are evidently lacking in educational settings that host children of the above critical ages and their teachers and caregivers. Promotion of universal hand washingwith water and soap among children is possible because their poor hygiene habits are less established.

They are within the age where lifelong behaviour is established as a cornerstone for the future.

Hand washing is most effective when it is done with clean water and soap. Governments around the world have put efforts to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 6; ensure access to water and sanitation for all, which is critical for successful realization of effective hand washing with soap.

We can achieve this goal if we can demonstrate that a high proportion of our population is using safely managed sanitation services, including hand washing facilities fitted with soap and water as stated in indicator 6.2.1.

Achieving the goal

One of the low cost interventions targeted by the government (Ministry of Health) in ensuring Universal Health Coverage is the scaling up of maternal and child health by ensuring exclusive breastfeeding and hand washing to prevent transfer of diarrhoea related disease through food during weaning period. Emphasizing the importance of personal hygiene as a part of health care will go a long way in achieving “Health for All” by 2022.

Research shows that if people wash their hands with soap before handling food or after using the toilet, the incidence of diarrhoea and pulmonary infections would be reduced by 45 per cent and almost 25 per cent respectively. Diarrhoea is the second most common cause of death among school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Advocacy and hand washing campaigns in schools have reduced child mortality in Kitui, the venue of this year’s national hand washing celebrations.

This is a clear indication that if taught from an early age, handwashing could have far reaching positive impact among children.

In developing countries, WHO says diarrhoea kills 2,195 children; more than malaria, Aids and measles and eight out of 10 of these are linked to poor sanitation, improper hygiene and unsafe water. Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are 14 times likely to die from diseases like diarrhoea which are caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.

In Kenya alone, 90 new-born babies die every day within their first months of life.

To ensure that Universal Health Coverage is possible in Kenya by 2022, greater focus has to be placed on primary health care, and particularly on prevention. Especially low-cost, high-impact interventions such as hand washing.

Mr Waka is the Programme Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Amref Health Africa in Kenya