Global Handwashing Day & Hand Hygiene Education

By: Briana Smith  |  October 10, 2019

Global Handwashing Day is right around the corner, next week to be precise, on October 15th. Founded in 2008, Global Handwashing Day highlights the importance of good hand hygiene practices particularly focusing on children & schools. Their slogan is “Clean hands save lives” as many children around the world develop illnesses, such as diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, that can be prevented by washing their hands with soap and water.

One of the tools Kimberly-Clark Professional* uses as part of their The Healthy Schools Project* in promoting hand hygiene education for children in schools is glitter. The teacher puts a non-toxic glitter substance on a child’s hands and has them play with things for a short while. Afterwards, the class can find all of the objects and surfaces with the glitter, which shows them how easy germs can spread.

The Importance of Handwashing

But good hand hygiene practices are not only for children. How many people do you notice in the restroom, whether at work or out and about, who don’t wash their hands or just opt to rinse them with water? Studies have shown that handwashing is very effective at getting most bacteria, germs & viruses from hands if done properly. And all you need is soap, water, and 20 seconds, plus either a hand dryer or paper towels to dry your hands. Not much really, especially when you think of all of the surfaces your hands touch in the space of 10 minutes.

For me it’s something along the lines of (in no particular order): keyboard, computer mouse, desk, perhaps my face when I’m not paying attention, door handles, break room drawer handles, sink faucet, refrigerator door handle, refrigerator drawer compartment, hot water tap on the coffee maker (for my tea), etc. And that’s not including the items I touch in the restroom. Imagine all the other people at my work who are touching the same surfaces, knobs, drawer handles, etc!

In this day and age adults learn about the importance of handwashing in a way that is more reminiscent of CSI.

Today Tonight: How Clean are Your Hands?

So, as Global Handwashing Day approaches, consider how important good hand hygiene habits are for everyone’s health! Perhaps take a moment or two to teach, or remind, your kids about handwashing. Consider your own handwashing habits - bored with singing Happy Birthday over and over again for the requisite 20 seconds, what about singing the chorus of your current favorite song twice? Write an article about handwashing tips & techniques for your company’s Workplace Wellness newsletter.

Briana Smith is WAXIE’s Social Media & Product Branding Specialist and spends quite a bit of time skimming the news for what’s new in cleaning, sustainability and technology while managing all of WAXIE’s social channels. She especially loves posting about #teamwaxie activities & conversing with customers on Instagram. Briana has a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Design from California State University, Chico.

 
READ MORE:

• Global Handwashing Day Official Website
• Hand Hygiene Influenza
• Hand Hygiene is as Easy as 1-2-3
• The Healthy Schools Project*
• Henry the Hand Foundation
• Successful Potty Training – The incident that made me realize that hand hygiene education still has a long way to go