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Today, October 15th, is the fifth annual Global Handwashing Day, which is designed to promote better hand hygiene around the world.
As a paramedic who worked during an age before wearing latex gloves became de rigueur, I confess that I quickly became a hand washing fanatic.
Think - Betadine scrub all the way up to the elbows - fanatic. Considering some of the places I was called upon to put my hands, it wasn’t an over reaction.
While originally promoted to encourage handwashing among children, given the dismal observational studies we’ve seen on hand hygiene around the world (see here, and here), this message needs to go out to everyone.
Last week’s CDC MMWR took note of the occasion with the following notice:
Announcements: Global Handwashing Day — October 15, 2012
Weekly
October 12, 2012 / 61(40);821The fifth annual Global Handwashing Day will be observed on October 15, 2012. This observance increases awareness and understanding of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable method of preventing disease around the world.
Handwashing with soap has an important role to play in child survival and health. About 2.2 million children aged <5 years die each year from diarrheal diseases or pneumonia, the top two killers of young children worldwide (1). Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhea by 30% (2) and respiratory infections by 21% (3) among children aged <5 years.
Although persons around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes bacteria much more effectively (4).
Additional information on Global Handwashing Day is available from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/features/globalhandwashing.
General handwashing information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing.
Information on water-related hygiene is available at http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/index.html.
From the CDC’s Global Handwashing Day Site.
About 2.2 million children5 under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world.2 Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but remarkably, handwashing with soap can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea3 and almost 1 out of 6 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia4. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively5.
Last stop, the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap (PPPHW) video, available on Youtube.
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