The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda this year with the first-ever Global Handwashing Day, slated for Wednesday 15 October 2008. With 2008 as the UN International Year of Sanitation, the Global Handwashing Day will echo and reinforce its call for improved hygiene practices.
The agencies leading the Global Handwashing Day efforts are part of the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing wth Soap and include (but are not limited to) the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP/World Bank), UNICEF, Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Hygiene Improvement Project (HIP/USAID), Proctor and Gamble and Unilever.
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.
The announcement of Global Handwashing Day was made at the annual World Water Week 2008, which was held in Stockholm from August 17 to 23.
Read the press release (11 Aug 2008).
Resources include:
Web site: Global Handwashing Day
Sanitation Updates 
Thanks for the site. I never thought ‘hand washing’ is so important for the personal hygiene. I will definitely pass on the info to my friends.
– Anand.
Definitely a great step in advocacy for personal hygiene and the cause of handwashing with soap and it is good to see that people are getting involved in Global Handwashing Day. The more the merrier!
I am looking forward to a time when the statistics would improve significantly for handwashing with soap and water . Most people especially children are yet to come to terms with this very simple yet highly benficial way of preventing ill health.
Being a cleanlinss freak, i found this concept very interesting and i will do wutevr lil’ on my part to spread awareness abt this…
This is definitely a good step to educate our little ones to be cautious about their health.
I’ve seen a lot of activity yesterday in hospitals and schools about this event.
Being a Pakistani, what made me delight is that the website is being hosted by a Pakistan web host 🙂
I and my team would like conduct Writing Contest for Primary School about Hand Washing. How can I get sponsor from this institution? I live in Indonesia. Thank you very much.
Naning Pranoto