Global Handwashing Day is an annual event observed on October 15. This day aims at promoting and spreading the culture of washing hands with water and soap as a basic hygiene rule that reduces the transmission of many diseases.
Official date: October 15
Key focus areas:
- Promote handwashing as a healthy habit that prevents transmission of diseases effectively.
- Encourage individuals to wash their hands with water and soap regularly, specifically before and after eating, using the bathroom, and before sleeping.
- Use videos and informative materials to educate individuals on the appropriate way to wash their hands.
- Target students in awareness campaigns as they are the most vulnerable to diseases which result from neglecting hand hygiene.
- Publish informative posters as reminders of the importance of handwashing, specifically in sanitary facilities.
- Maintain the cleanliness of sanitary facilities.
- Include promoting handwashing in the agendas of all awareness-raising programmes that aim at ending the spread of infections.
- Clarify the crucial role of washing hands with soap and water as one of the precautionary measures that have proven effective during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Emphasize the importance of hand hygiene as the cornerstone of the individual and community’s health.
Key facts:
- There are 1.4 million cases of death among children annually because of pneumonia and diarrhea resulting from a lack of hand hygiene.
- Washing hands with water and soap reduces the number of deaths resulting from diarrhea by approximately half.
- Handwashing facilities do not exist in 33% of health institutions.
- Hand washing protects healthcare workers from infection by 50%.