Global Handwashing Day

Global Handwashing Day is an international campaign to promote hygiene and good sanitation.

The day highlights the importance that simply washing hands with soap is the most effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Dubbed as a “do it yourself” vaccine, the annual global advocacy day is dedicated to promoting a global/local culture of handwashing with soap. The behaviour can help save lives, “cutting diarrhoea by almost one-half and acute respiratory infections by nearly one-quarter. Handwashing with soap impacts not just health and nutrition, but also education, economics, and equity.”

This year’s theme is “raise a hand for hygiene”, which represents the action critical to increasing global handwashing.

“The act of raising a hand is one of affiliation. You can and should identify yourself as a hygiene champion. This can help create a strong social norm of good hygiene in a school, community, or region. When people raise a hand, they can also be counted. In terms of handwashing, this is a reminder that it is possible for governments to count how many people wash their hands and have access to hygiene facilities in homes, schools, and healthcare facilities. Governments must measure hygiene indicators to know where resources should be concentrated. Global Handwashing Day is a good opportunity to ask governments to fulfill this important role.”

The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap founded Global Handwashing Day. It is a coalition that brings together the expertise, experience, ideas, resources, and reach of the public and private sectors around the world to promote handwashing with soap. Many people who wash their hands often don’t use soap or don’t wash after using the toilet or before handling/eating food, which are the most critical moments in preventing the spread of diseases.

The campaign was initiated to reduce childhood mortality rates related respiratory and diarrheal diseases by introducing the simple behavioural change. This simple, accessible action can, according to research, reduce the rate of mortality from these diseases by almost 25 and 50 per cent, respectively. The Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has proven that by using soap, germs are removed much more effectively.

Last year in 2014, Global Handwashing Day was used as an opportunity to fight Ebola. “Handwashing with soap is one of the cheapest, most effective ‘vaccines’ against viral diseases, from the seasonal flu, to the common cold,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, head of UNICEF’s global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes.