The spread of infections and diseases can be significantly reduced by practicing good hand hygiene.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that dirty hands are the primary means of illness transmission in about 80 per cent of cases.
To prevent the spread of infections, healthcare spaces, households, workplaces, schools, and the community need to have good hygiene practices. It is about believing in the importance of good hygiene practices and incorporating in our daily activities.
Hygiene is essential for preventing the spread of disease and ensuring that children and their families can thrive. A lack of hygiene services in healthcare facilities puts patients at risk of infections and poor hygiene at school means students are exposed to germs that can make them sick.
Hand washing is something we learn at a young age, yet many people just do not see it as a priority.
For instance, according to WHO, diarrhoea kills approximately 2,000 Kenyan children under the age of five every year; this disease can be avoided by using the right handwashing techniques. Globally speaking, nothing has changed. Covid-19 highlighted the need of hand hygiene in stopping the virus's transmission.
Research dubbed 'Promoting hand hygiene in schools' published in the American Journal of Infection Control revealed that encouraging hand hygiene in schools reduced illness-related absences by 20 per cent.
According to UNICEF, three billion people do not have a handwashing facility with water and soap at home, almost half of schools lack a handwashing facility with water and soap, affecting some 818 million school-age children, and roughly 32 per cent of health-care facilities lack hand hygiene facilities.
A multi-modal strategy should be used to promote good hand hygiene, including instruction, product distribution, and the use of soap and water, hand sanitizers, and other disinfectants.
On May 5, as we commemorate the annual World Hand Hygiene Day, with a call to action to improve hand hygiene through the theme 'Accelerate action together.
SAVE LIVES - Clean Your Hands.' This call to action is for all players to unite and prevent resistance to infections and promote a culture where hand hygiene is given priority.
Organisations can encourage hand hygiene by providing supplies and resources, training staff on best practices, and spreading awareness of its significance.
As part of the fight to make access to hygiene, wellness, and nourishment a right and not a privilege, Reckitt has partnered with Water.org, to offer solutions that break down the financial barriers between people in need and access to safe water and Sanitation.
Water.org collaborates with financial institutions to accelerate access to water and sanitation and by doing so we have so far reached over 6.6 million people through 1.6 million loans by mobilizing $676 million. Through the collaboration, Water.org has developed efficient, scalable solutions and using financing as a tool to help people get access to safe water and sanitation.
Let us help ourselves and our loved ones stay healthy by washing our hands often. Keep in mind that clean hands save lives!
- The writer is a Senior Partnership Accounts Manager at Water.org
