Global Hand Hygiene Day: In Times Of COVID-19 Pandemic Handwashing Remains Effective Prevention, Says WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrates May 5 as Global Handwashing Day every year to mobilize people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene. Now with the COVID-19 outbreak there is a renewed emphasis on ensuring hand hygiene. According to doctors, handwashing is extremely important to keep hands infection-free and thus preventing the spread of pathogen like coronavirus. It recommends washing hand with soap and water or using alcohol-based sanitiser.
This year, the theme of the Global Hand Hygiene Day campaign is 'SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands'. The goal of the campaign is to recognize that handwashing is one of the most effective actions you can take to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus. According to WHO, health workers and community members alike can play a role in preventing infections by practising regular and frequent handwashing.
The right way to wash hands: Take some soap. Create a lather. Clean the back of hands, in between fingers, the end of fingers, thumb, palms, wrist and the top of hand again. Rinse the soap from hands. Turn off the tap with a tissue to prevent cross-contamination. Discard the tissue into a bin. It should take around 20 seconds to wash hands properly.
According to doctors, washing hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on hands. It is advised to wash hands more frequently and WHO recommends washing hand after coughing or sneezing, when caring for the sick, before, during and after preparing food, before eating, after toilet use, after handling animals or animal waste and when hands are visibly dirty.
The Global Hand Hygiene Day also makes a call to action to policy-makers to provide safe work environments for nurses and to empower them in providing clean care by strengthening handwashing infrastructure. The campaign also calls the people to participate in WHO's ongoing #SafeHandsChallenge in which various celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Deepkia Padukone and Anushka Sharma have also participated earlier
Nearly 20 lakh children live on the streets of India, without an identity, a name to call their own, a place to call home, sleeping on empty stomachs for days and nights. These twenty lakh are children, who have dreams, who have rights, who are our tomorrow. They are living in the shadows today.
During these unprecedented times, not everyone can afford the privilege of social distancing. And not everybody can stay home during the lockdown, simply because they don’t have a home. Those living in poverty are extremely vulnerable, struck with a sudden lack of funds, food, mobility and a struggle for survival. And, as with all humanitarian crises, it is the children who have been affected the most.
It is always the children on the street who are subjected to some of the harshest realities of life. Today they are battling a catastrophic crisis, and it’s time we step in to protect them.
As a part of our COVID-19 response, Save the Children is working across various regions and has already directly reached over 18,000 children and adults to cover their basic needs. The organisation is ensuring their daily needs and their dignity and hygiene are also being cared for. Save the Children has identified 2.5 lakh children in cohorts, across 10 cities in India. Reaching out to these children with emergency relief is a top priority. But this cannot be done alone.
Save the Children and NDTV join hands to bring focus to the lives of children living in street situations. As India fights the Coronavirus, we must not forget one of the most marginalised and excluded groups whose lives have been long ignored – street-connected children. The 21-day campaign will generate public interest and raise funds to ensure these 20 Lakh+ children who live, earn, sleep and eat on our streets are cared for and protected. Amidst the crisis the world is facing, they are most vulnerable, exposed to infection and disease.