GLOBAL
Handwashing Day takes place on 15 October every year and is the Global
Handwashing partnership’s and the worlds biggest platform for raising awareness
about the importance of hand washing with soap as fundamental to good health
and development. In 2019. The Global Handwashing Day theme is “Clean Hands for
All.” The theme focus on the importance of handwashing equity. It implies that
individuals in all areas of all nations have opportunities to approach
essential handwashing facilities with soap and water.
The State of
Global Handwashing
The Joint
Monitoring Program (JMP) run by UNICEF and WHO define a “basic handwashing
facility as the availability of a handwashing facility on the premises with
soap and water.” Handwashing facilities can be ‘fixed or’ mobile. ‘Fixed’
facilities include sinks with taps, buckets with taps, and tippy-taps, while,
mobile facilities include jugs or basins designated for handwashing. The term
soap includes bar soap, liquid soap, powder detergent, or soapy water.
According to
Global Handwashing Partnerships 2019 Global Handwashing Day Fact Sheet, The
state of global handwashing can be summarized as follows:
• Only 60% of
the worlds population has access to a basic handwashing facility.
• In the worlds
least developed countries, only 28% of people have access to basic handwashing
facilities. Currently, there are 17 countries where more than 10 million people
lack handwashing facilities. The availability of soap and water at handwashing
facilities varies substantially.
Geographic
disparities often exist among rural and urban areas, with handwashing
infrastructure lacking for many rural populations.
• Currently,
only 34% of people living in rural areas have access to a basic handwashing
facility.
• People in
rural areas are less likely to have access to soap and water.
Globally, basic
handwashing coverage among the richest wealth quintile was at least twice as
high as coverage among the poorest quintile. Overall, wealthier individuals are
more likely to practice handwashing with soap, as they can afford basic
handwashing facilities with soap more readily.
For vulnerable
groups, it is particularly important that soap and water are kept at a
handwashing facility, as it can be more challenging for them to access these
materials independently.
• Approximately
15% of the worlds population has a disability. For people with disabilities,
accessing WASH facilities is often their most significant challenge of daily
life.
• When hygiene
and sanitation facilities are not well adapted, people with disabilities must
touch sanitation surfaces that others do not – putting them at greater risk for
disease.
Marginalized
groups, such as displaced populations and indigenous groups, do not have equal
access to handwashing facilities or soap. This makes them more susceptible to
diarrheal diseases and other related illnesses.
• In
conflict-affected settings, children under the age of 5 years old are 20 times
more likely to die from diarrhea than they are from violence. This is, in part,
due to insufficient functional handwashing facilities. In these circumstances,
displaced individuals are often unable to buy their own soap or build their own
facilities due to lack of finances and access to markets. • When people are
displaced, they frequently share handwashing facilities. Sharing can cause
people to worry about soap being stolen or wasted, which often results in
people keeping their soap inside the house..
• Indigenous
populations often do not have equal access to handwashing facilities or soap.
This is because indigenous populations often live in geographically remote
areas and are more likely to live in crowded or informal housing environments,
making it hard to maintain facilities.
Only 53% of the
worlds schools provide ‘basic handwashing facilities’ for their students.
This means that
900 million students currently have nowhere to wash their hands.
• Access to
basic handwashing facilities is typically higher in secondary schools than
primary schools and higher in urban schools compared to rural schools. Many
schools have handwashing facilities, but soap and water are frequently
unavailable.
• Globally, 57%
of health care facilities have basic hand hygiene facilities at points of care.
• Data from 54
low- and middle- income countries showed that 35% of health care facilities do
not have water and soap available for handwashing.
• There are
inequities within countries and between levels of health care.
Handwashing
situation in Myanmar
According to
Myanmar Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 2016, overall, 7.0% of
high school students never or rarely washed their hands before eating during
the past 30 days. Male students (8.0%) are significantly more likely than
female students (4.9%) to never or rarely wash their hands before eating.
Overall, 8.8% of high school students never or rarely washed their hands after
using the toilet or latrine during the past 30 days. Male students (11.7%) are
significantly more likely than female students (6.7%) to never or rarely wash
their hands after using the toilet or latrine. Overall, 6.9% of high school
students never or rarely used soap when washing their hands during the past 30
days. Male students (7.3%) are significantly more likely than female students
(4.8%) to never or rarely use soap when washing their hands. According to the
2015-16 Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (2015-16 MDHS), just under half
(48%) of households have an improved sanitation facility including handwashing
facilities. Ten percent have a facility that would be considered improved if it
were not shared. Overall, 42% of households in Myanmar have an unimproved
facility. This includes 11% that have no facility at all.
Importance of
Handwashing and Best Practices
Indeed!
Handwashing with soap is considerably more effective at cleaning our hands than
handwashing with water alone. However, washing hands with water is desirable
over not handwashing by any means, Proper hand washing requires soap and
running water. A study in Bangladesh found that while utilization of water
alone helps decrease the danger of diarrhoea, utilization of soap is
substantially more effective. Where soap is not available or difficult to
obtain for handwashing, soap water is an effective low-cost alternative.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used instead of handwashing with soap,
particularly in health care setting and for times where access to soap and
water is challenging.
Handwashing with
soap helps prevent gastrointestinal diseases like diarrhea; respiratory
diseases like pneumonia and influenza; and other infections such as Ebola and
healthcareassociated infections. Handwashing with soap may also reduce
soil-transmitted helminth infections, which infect over 1.5 billion people.
Handwashing with soap is also an important part of food hygiene, a set of
hygienic practice that keep food safe and prevent food-related illness. In
addition to its impact on health, handwashing also benefits nutrition,
education, equity, and the economic development of countries.
Research has
shown that the two primary times to wash hands are after contact with feces
(such as using the toilet or cleaning a child) and before contact with food
(preparing food, eating, feeding a child, and so on).The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends washing hands:
• Before,
during, and after preparing food
• Before eating
food
• Before and
after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea
• Before and
after treating a cut or wound
• After using
the toilet
• After changing
diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
• After blowing
your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After touching
an animal, animal feed, or animal waste
• After handling
pet food or pet treats
• After touching
garbage
To wash your
hands properly, follow these five steps every time.
1. Wet your
hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply
soap.
2. Lather your
hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands,
between your fingers, and under your nails.
3. Scrub your
hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from
beginning to end twice.
4. Rinse your
hands well under clean, running water.
5. Dry your
hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
Clean Hands for
All
Handwashing has
multiple benefits for overall health and well-being. This years theme, „Clean
hands for All reminds us that we must be inclusive when addressing handwashing
disparities. On Global Handwashing Day and every day, here are some ways you
can help everyone enjoy the benefits of handwashing with soap:
• Wash your
hands with soap at critical times, especially before eating, cooking, or
feeding others.
• Model good
handwashing behavior and remind or help others to always wash their hands
before eating.
• Make
handwashing a routine part of your family meals.
• Establish
places to wash your hands in the household, in your community, in schools,
workplaces, and in health facilities.
• Promote
effective handwashing behavior change in research, policy, programs, and
advocacy.
By Dr Aung Tun
Ref:
• Global
Handwashing Day 2019 Toolkit, Global Handwashing Partnership, 2019
• Global Handwashing
Day 2018 Report, Global Handwashing Partnership, 2018
• Global
School-based Student Health Survey 2016, SH, DOPH, MOHS 2016
• Handwashing:
Clean Hands Save Lives, CDC, USA, 2018
• Myanmar
Demographic and Health Survey 2015-2016, MOHS, 2016
• The State of
Handwashing in 2017:Annual Research Summary, Global Handwashing Partnership,
May 2018
Ref; The Global
New Light of Myanmar
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