The Ministry of Health joins the rest of the world in commemorating Global Handwashing Day 2015 on October 15. With the recent spread of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson is urging parents, caregivers, and schools to join in the commemoration of Global Handwashing Day 2015.
For this year’s celebration, the Ministry continues to emphasize the value of proper handwashing with soap and water especially among our children to prevent diseases through its ongoing public education programmes through the media and especially in schools.
Dr. Ferguson added that handwashing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diseases and is considered one of the most valuable and convenient preventative public health approaches.
According to World Health Organization, the most likely estimate of disease burden from inadequate hand hygiene amounts to 297,000 deaths and everyone can protect themselves, their families, and their communities through handwashing with soap. It requires few resources—just soap and a small amount of water—yet the benefits are huge.
Persons can follow some simple behavioural tips to drastically reduce you and your child’s risk in order to prevent the spread of infections:
- Wash hands before you: prepare or eat food, look after a sick person or a baby and touch your eyes or mouth.
- Wash hands after you: use the toilet, handle raw meat, chicken or fish, change diapers, sneeze, cough, blow or wipe your nose, touch an animal or handle garbage.
Global Handwashing Day was founded by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing and is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies, and individuals.