Global Handwashing Day: Campaigning to save children lives [Archives:2008/1199/Local News]
By: Yemen Times Staff
SANA'A, Oct. 15 ) The first-ever Global Handwashing Day took place on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. The UN General Assembly has designated 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and Global Handwashing Day echoes and reinforces its call for improved hygiene practices. Global Handwashing Day will be the centerpiece of a week of activities that will mobilize millions of people in more than 20 countries across five continents to wash their hands with soap.
In Yemen, the event was delayed because of national holidays and will take place on Saturday Oc. 18 at Rabiea Al-Adwaia School in Sana'a. Young Child Survival and Development program with UNICEF is marking this day by organizing handwashing activities in four secondary schools in Sana'a. Four hundred ninth grade students from two girls schools: Mujama'a Al-Thawra in Nuqum and Rabiea Al-Adwaia in Al-Wihda district and two boys schools: Al-Wihda in Al-Tahreer and 30 Nov. in Shuoob district will participate in a march starting from Apolo center at 9:30 heading to Rabiea Al-Adwaia School.
Before the march the schools will organize a handwashing session for all its students whereby the learn the right way for washing hands. Soap has been provided by Hael Saeed Group and Thabet Brothers Group. Other companies in the private sector also contribute to this campaign such as Shamlan company for mineral water who will place the handwashing logo and educational tips on the bottles, and Yemen Mobile the mobile company will send awareness sms messages on the importance of handwashing reaching one million people.
Information and communication educational materials will be distributed in the schools such as stickers and posters and an education film will be displayed for the students. Ten thousand students between the 7th and 9th grades are targeted by these events.
Handwashing and infant mortality
Global Handwashing Day 2008 will revolve around schools and children. On Global Handwashing Day, playgrounds, classrooms, community centers, and the public spaces of towns and cities will be awash with activity to drive handwashing behavior change on a scale never seen before, bringing the critical issue center stage. Such efforts will help achieve one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG): 'Halve the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation'. As part of the International Year the first “Global Handwashing Day” on October 15th 2008 aims to promote improved hygiene practices and draw attention to the world's enormous sanitation challenge.
According to the United Nations, a third of the global population has no access to adequate sanitation facilities resulting in the deaths of about 1.5 million children each year from diarrhea and other water borne diseases. Studies show that hand washing with soap decreases the number of incidences of these diseases and their severe impact on a community's health, economic and education situation. Sensitizing people to wash hands regularly with water is an achievement, but also using soap enhances the positive benefits. Soap breaks down the grease and dirt that carry the germs, bacteria or viruses and can interrupt the transmission pathway to the individual and to other people.
In Yemen, 88 percent of diarrhea cases in children are caused because of bad hygiene. With adequate handwashing 35 percent of infections could be reduced. This is acknowledged as a low cost effective intervention to saving the lives of children.
In some places in Yemen, 17 percent of mothers admitted not to train their children on washing hands after using the toilet.
According to global health statistics from a research carried out by the World Bank in Africa, Asia and Latin America revealed that 450 million working hours are lost every year because diarrhea. This is equal to 180 to 200 billon US dollars of wasted money.
Handwashing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year. Together, they are responsible for the majority of all child deaths. Yet, despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote. In Yemen, 25 percent of child mortality causes is diarrhea.
Many organizations working in Yemen are promoting this cause through their field projects. The topics sanitation and personal hygiene are part of the GTZ water project 'Community-based Water Use in Water Scarce Areas' in Amran which aims to improve water resources management in four districts. In its broad awareness approach through female awareness trainers and so called Village Water Committees it addresses the different stakeholders, in particular women. Many of the tasks a woman fulfills each day are related or connected to water: cooking, washing, fetching water, taking care of children and elderly people.
Global Handwashing day
The challenge is to transform handwashing with soap from an abstract good idea into an automatic behavior performed in homes, schools, and communities worldwide. Turning handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter. A vast change in handwashing behavior is critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths among children under the age of five by two-thirds by 2015.
According to the United Nations, a third of the global population has no access to adequate sanitation facilities resulting in the deaths of about 1.5 million children each year from diarrhea and other water borne diseases. Studies show that hand washing with soap decreases the number of incidences of these diseases and their severe impact on a community's health, economic and education situation. Sensitizing people to wash hands regularly with water is an achievement, but also using soap enhances the positive benefits. Soap breaks down the grease and dirt that carry the germs, bacteria or viruses and can interrupt the transmission pathway to the individual and to other people.
The guiding vision of Global Handwashing Day is a local and global culture of handwashing with soap. Although people around the world wash their hands with water, very few wash their hands with soap at the critical occasions.
Of the approximately 120 million children born in the developing world each year, half will live in households without access to improved sanitation, at grave risk to their survival and development. Poor hygiene and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, accounting for 1.5 million diarrhoea-related under-five deaths each year. Children suffer disproportionately from diarrheal and respiratory diseases and deaths. But research shows that children – the segment of society so often the most energetic, enthusiastic, and open to new ideas – can also be powerful agents of behavioral change.
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