Have you washed your hands today?

Have you washed your hands today? What made you wash your hands?

When did you wash your hands? How did you wash your hands? These are some critical questions that speak to the importance, effective and efficient washing of hands every day as we use our hands in several chores and activities.

Regular handwashing which borders on the observance of proper hygiene is known to contribute to improved well-being, dignity, educational fulfilment and productivity but has also been proven to keep diseases away.

It is to champion the importance and effectiveness of proper handwashing as the cheapest way of preventing diseases, especially those that come through ingestion, that Global Handwashing Day (GHD) was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership as an opportunity to design and implement creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap, especially during critical times.

The critical times are listed as after using the toilet, cleaning a baby, before preparing or eating food, after coughing, sneezing or blowing one’s nose.  

The day is aimed at creating a culture of handwashing with soap in all societies, to create awareness of the state of handwashing in each country and to inform people about the benefits of handwashing with soap.

Proper and effective handwashing as highlighted by the day, which is being marked today, is the washing of the hands with soap under running water, either from a tap or an improvised (creative) water system that will ensure water flows freely on the hands during washing.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2019, handwashing and its importance in helping prevent the spread of diseases was something that most people probably never gave much thought to.

However, the global pandemic shone a light on the importance of handwashing, meaning that the commemoration of GHD, which commenced in 2008 now carries extra relevance.

Although since 2008 the day has been observed as an annual advocacy day for handwashing with soap as an easy, effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives, it is sad to note that the public’s response to handwashing has waned since COVID-19 infections reduced in the country.

COVID-19 and other diseases are still with us and we must not take the handwashing with soap under running water, which was an effective safety protocol during the peak of the pandemic, for granted.

Being marked today on the theme: “Why are clean hands still important?”, GHD 2024 clearly reminds the world and its citizens about the life-saving path of handwashing as a time-tested means of keeping diseases at bay.

Indeed, the best way to keep the hands clean from disease-causing pathogens is to wash with soap under clean running water, suggesting that the hands cannot be made clean if there is no clean water.

Moreover, handwashing with soap is easy and everyone can protect themselves, their families and their communities through handwashing with soap. Although handwashing requires few resources — soap and a small amount of water — the benefits are very significant.

It has been proven that if practised regularly at key times, handwashing with soap can dramatically reduce the risk of diarrhoea, pneumonia and other respiratory infections such as common cold or flu, which can cause serious illness and death.

Handwashing with soap also helps prevent the spread of other infections, including influenza, dysentery and Ebola, among others.

We cannot but make proper handwashing our way of life, especially in a community such as ours where handshaking is a cultural thing, so as to stay healthy all the time.

The Daily Graphic urges parents, guardians and the elderly to teach children and adolescents the importance of ensuring clean hands by washing them regularly with soap and clean water, to promote good health.

If we can provide soap for doing the dishes, the laundry and for bathing, we have no excuse for not making soap available for use after using the lavatory.

We pray health, sanitation and school authorities and all establishments would ensure there is always soap (liquid or solid) at washrooms to encourage users to always wash their hands once they are done using the facilities, in order to discourage the spread of diseases.

We also urge all to desist from not washing the hands with soap after using the toilet, as that would defeat the purpose of handwashing – an infected person could break the protective cycle.