Global Handwashing Day
October 15, 2013
This simple act is the most cost effective way to prevent disease.
What may seem like a small thing can save millions of lives around the world. Studies have shown that properly washing hands with soap and safe water is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and acute respiratory infections—disease that take millions of lives of children in developing countries every year. The habit of washing hand before eating and after using the bathroom could cut deaths from diarrheal diseases in half.
Water Missions International Indonesia staff teach children proper handwashing techniques.
Our staff at Water Missions International are all too aware of the difference handwashing makes. Part of our community development work in each project includes health and hygiene training. A team from our in-country program office instructs the community on the importance of cleaning water containers, proper handwashing techniques, and other good hygiene practices.
In fact, we think it’s so important that we train community leaders on proper techniques and teaching methods so that they continue to spread awareness about healthy hygiene behavior and teach it to every household.
Children in Uganda clean water containers with soap and safe water as part of their health and hygiene training.
One popular way to teach thorough handwashing involves using glitter as a visual representation of germs. A staff member places a small amount of colorful glitter, the same glitter you could find at craft stores across the United States, in one participant’s hands. Then everyone in the room spends a few minutes shaking hands with one another. By the end of the activity everyone has glitter on their hands. In this, we demonstrate how easily germs spread. Everyone receives more glitter to rub on their hands for the next activity. Once participants have covered their hands with glitter, they wash the glitter off with soap and water using the techniques they learned to wash their hands effectively. As everyone who has ever used glitter knows, it’s a lot of work to rinse it off.
A school girl in Haiti practices properly washing her hands.
Our efforts in teaching the importance of proper health and hygiene aren’t limited to work in our in-country programs. A group of school teachers have gathered together to launch a new initiative, Lessons in a Bucket, to educate students in the United States on the importance safe water and hygiene in combatting the global water crisis. To learn more about this new initiative, check out their website here.
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