Global Handwashing Day was introduced to reduce child mortality rates around the world, it is celebrated as Global Handwashing Day to increase awareness about the importance of washing hands. Global Handwashing provides a platform to design creative ways to encourage people to take up washing their hands with soap as a routine practice.

Thus Global Handwashing aims to draw attention to the state of handwashing around the world and raise awareness about handwashing in order to create a global handwashing culture. Every year various local communities and national leaders around the world spend time demonstrating the importance of handwashing and organizing campaigns for the same.

Handwashing helps prevent common flu, diarrhea, and acute respiratory diseases. It is known to prevent diarrhea by 30% and respiratory diseases by 21% in toddlers. It is estimated that incorporating handwashing in day-to-day lives can work better than a single vaccine or medical intervention, around the globe. Handwashing Week is also used to spread awareness about sanitation along with the importance of handwashing, thus with the core aim of controlling the spread of diseases as much as possible. Thus, WASH(water, sanitation, and hygiene) programs are incorporated into the Handwashing initiatives. The date for Global Handwashing Week was picked by UN General Assembly while declaring 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

The Best Global Handwashing

Germs spread easily through hands, by touching dirty surfaces, shaking hands, contaminating food and water, and coming in contact with a sick person's fluids. It is thus necessary to clean our hands regularly, particularly before eating anything, in order to avoid diseases. Thus, as it acts the first defense against infectious diseases. Small children are the most affected by this.

Hands should be washed in all the below-mentioned cases:

Before eating
After using the toilet
Before cooking
Before and after attending to sick persons
After touching any animal
After working on the fields
After smoking

Method to correctly wash hands

Step 1: Wet hands with clean water

Step 2: Apply soap and work up a lather

Step 3: Rub hands together for about 20 seconds

Step 4: Clean the back of the hands and the area between the fingers.

Step 5: Clean the nails and any dirt stuck in them.

Step 6: Wash off the soap and dirt with clean water.

Step 7: Dry hands using a towel, paper towel, or blow dryer.

Using running water is better as standing water gets contaminated. Also, hot water cleans better than cold water. Soap should be used in all the above-mentioned cases. Liquid soap is more hygienic than bar soap and fights off diseases better. It is thus understood that a simple act of washing hands can go a long way in fighting off infections. This works particularly well in the case of toddlers, thus reducing infant mortality rates to a great rate!

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