“Clean hands save lives” — Global Handwashing Day 2011 is celebrated by millions of people worldwide

Millions of people across the globe celebrated the 4th annual Global Handwashing Day on 15 October 2011, emphasizing the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective, simple, and affordable way to prevent disease.

UNICEF Pakistan launches ‘Sabu’

Over 1 million children took part in Pakistan, where UNICEF supported the launch of a new animated children’s character, ‘Sabu’, to help teach children the importance of handwashing with soap.

Celebrations in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Peru, India

In Afghanistan, 1.7 million children from 1,700 schools washed hands; in Eritrea, 326,809 children in 1,272 schools did the same. In Peru, the government declared a national handwashing week as of 10 October, and events involved 3.5 million students in 20,000 schools. In India, eight million children in Rajasthan and all 154,000 schools in Uttar Pradesh participated in handwashing events (listen to Head of UNICEF’s hand washing campaign Lizette Burgers talking on UN Radio).

Tips for a hygienic office by germ professor Chuck Gerba

Environmental microbiologist Dr Charles (Chuck) P. Gerba from the University of Arizona, shares his tips on keeping your office clean and hygienic. This is one in a series of hygiene videos posted by Crest Commercial Cleaning, New Zealand: others are on hygiene in schools, kitchens, bathrooms and in space (astronaut hygiene). We learn that the desktop is one of the germiest places in the office and that 20-30% of women’s handbags have fecal bacteria underneath.

Clean hands save lives: Global Handwashing Day 2011 celebrated worldwide

On 15 October 2011 people across the globe will celebrate the 4th annual Global Handwashing Day aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent disease.

Last year, 200 million people and 700,000 schools in more than 100 countries celebrated the event. All schools (18 million children) across Bangladesh participated in the celebrations which included mass handwashing demonstrations and nationwide media coverage. The event was used as a platform to launch the Government’s National Hygiene Campaign which aims to promote long‐term behavior change, particularly handwashing with soap.

Global Handwashing Day was initiated in 2008 by the Global Public‐Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap (PPPHW), and it is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organisations, NGOs, private companies and individuals around the globe.

This year the PPPHW is releasing Governments Take Action, a brief about how governments are taking action to promote handwashing.

For further information, visit www.globalhandwashingday.org or go to the Facebook:
www.facebook.com/GlobalHandwashingDay

Source: Global Handwashing Day 2011 press release

WASHplus Weekly – Focus on handwashing

Issue 27 October 7, 2011 | Focus on Hand Washing – Global Handwashing Day Edition

This WASHplus Weekly was prepared as a contribution to Global Handwashing Day, celebrated each October 15. Global Handwashing Day was created by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing in 2008 to foster and support a global culture of hand washing with soap.

Included in this issue of the Weekly are studies on hand washing and neonatal mortality, hand washing studies from Bangladesh and Tanzania, an interesting October 2011 review of nutrition and infection and links to videos and websites.

Please contact WASHplus if you know of other hand washing studies or resources that can be featured in future issues. We also welcome suggestions about topics for future issues of the WASHplus Weekly.

• Weekly on Handwashing