October 15th is the first annual UN Global Handwashing Day, set in conjunction with 2008 being the UN International Year of Sanitation, the day is set to both echo and reinforce the UN's call for improved hygiene practices across the globe. The goal of the week of activities is to encourage people, especially children, to wash their hands using soap in an effort to help curb the spread of disease and thus lower child mortality rates.
Why Focus on Children?
Of the approximately 120 million children born in the developing world each year, half will live in households without access to improved sanitation, at grave risk to their survival and development. Poor hygiene and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, accounting for 1.5 million diarrhoea-related under-five deaths each year. Children suffer disproportionately from diarrheal and respiratory diseases and deaths. But research shows that children , the segment of society so often the most energetic, enthusiastic, and open to new ideas , can also be powerful agents of behavioral change.
Millions mark UN hand-washing day , as children worldwide are expected to participate in Global Handwashing Day, October 15th, a UN event designed to impress young minds with the importance of basic hygiene in combating disease. The practice, which can cut diarrheal diseases by more than 40% and respiratory infections by 30%, is being highlighted on radio and television across five continents as part of the UN's International Year of Sanitation. More than 20 countries are participating in, and promoting the day, in an effort to save the lives of children from easily prevented diseases.
In Yemen the drive to promote handwashing, to reduce child mortality rates is well underway. According to Kamal Abdullah, health and education programs officer at the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Yemen, diarrhoeal diseases account for 20-25 percent of the 84,000 annual deaths among children under five.
In Bangladesh handwashing saves children's lives . Across the country more than 16 million children in 73,000 primary and secondary schools will mark the day with a vow to keep themselves free of diarrhoea and pneumoni, the two main causes of childhood diseases, which are spread mainly via dirty hands. “Children are the most powerful agents of change in society,” said Carel de Rooy, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Bangladesh. “If children learn basic hygiene education and practice from the beginning of their lives, they can work as a catalyst to change the whole society.” In Bangladesh, more than 35,000 children under-five die of diarrhoeal diseases each year, an average of 100 deaths a day, according to UNICEF.
Saving lives really is as simple as soap and water!
