What is global hand washing day?
October 15th is, since its inaugurating in Stockholm in 2008, Global Hand washing Day. The United Nations global assembly officialize it in 2008, which was coincidently the International Year for Sanitation. Global Hand washing Day is a worldwide advocacy, which aims to promote awareness and accentuate the importance of hand washing with soap, in order to prevent the spread of diseases and infections, and ultimately, protect human lives.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted and heightened the need for hand hygiene, and showed the speed at which disease can be spread, or halted, through thorough hand washing. Adequate hand washing isn’t implemented everywhere; during the pandemic, as much as 3 out of 10 people did not have access to soap and water at home. Furthermore, in developing countries, 47% of schools do not have hand washing facilities in place.
The impact of hand washing:
Hand washing has undeniable impact on health, and protection against disease. As much as 58% of weakened immune systems could be improve simply by washing hands with soap. Additionally, hand washing with soap can reduce the risk of pneumonia by 50%, and the risk of endemic diarrhea by up to 48% (Water Aid). According to Om Prasad Gautam (WASH expert and public health specialist), investment programs which promote hand washing can lead to important economic gains; in India, such funding programs could see a 5.6 million net return. Hand washing is indeed one of the most cost-effective ways to improve public health.
Subsequently, hand washing doesn’t only affect health; it has considerable and undeniable impacts on other sectors ranging from education to the economy. A healthy child is a child who can go to school and not have to miss class for sickness. Likewise, a healthy adult can go to work, so there is no lost income and hence no lost productivity. Conversely, a sick child or adult has the opposite consequence, which can have detrimental impacts on both the individual and the public sector.
What is WASH doing?
Water aid, or WASH, encourages national governments to develop hand hygiene by implementing and funding hand washing strategies. WASH also calls upon donors to increase funding, as well as ensure that hand hygiene is a major constituent in investment in health and education. Om Prasad Gautam urges governments to act now, and not wait for another pandemic to implement meaningful changes and investment in general hygiene and hand hygiene programs. Hand washing needs to be institutionalized as a central component in public health.
The UCL WASH society is a hosting a fundraiser in collaboration with the UCL Pokémon society, which you can attend this Saturday! more information can be found on the WASH website or Instagram.
