Hand Washing Day
‘Clean Hands Save Lives-Centres for Disease Control & Preventions (CDC)’
Hand washing is an important daily habit. Keeping this fact in view, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 15th October as the Global Hand Washing Day and the year ‘2008’ as the International Year of Sanitation. This is so because Global Hand Washing Day was first observed in the year 2008 on 15th October. This day is celebrated across the world to generate awareness among the masses at large that hand washing is the key to a healthy life.
Principles of Hand Awareness:
- Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
- Do not cough into your hands.
- Do not sneeze into your hands.
- Also, do not put your fingers into your eyes, nose or mouth.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US, recommends to simply follow the 5 tips to wash your hands the right way:
1) Wet your hands with clean water (warm or cold), turn off the tap and apply soap.
2) Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap and wash them for at least 20 seconds.
3) Scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails.
4) Rinse your hands properly & turn-off the tap with tissue paper.
5) Dry your hands using a clean towel/tissue paper.
Hand Washing: To-do list:
- Spread awareness among the general masses to adopt healthy hand wash habit.
- Demonstrate to small children, the right way to wash hands (between the fingers, under the nails etc.) to stay away from diseases.
- Use a tissue paper to dry your hands.
- Try to turn-off the tap/faucet using a tissue paper.
- While travelling, carry paper soaps to wash your hands.
- Avoid using hand sanitizers. Instead, wash your hands properly.
- Use social media to generate awareness about the importance of healthy hand wash.
- Motivate children to make posters on Hand Washing Day, using the official logo.
So, start practising healthy hand washing habits and lead a healthy life.
