Hand washing: A call to national hygiene

Hand sanitizer dispenser

When Ebola broke out in the country a year ago, hand washing became norm in many public places, offices, banks, restaurants, even some super markets mandated their customers to wash hands before entering their places. Many Nigerians cultivated the habit of having hand sanitizers wherever they go, but a year after, Nigerians relapsed to the old practice of not washing hands regularly. The truth remains that regular washing of hands, though a simple action, go a long way in reducing infections, diseases and virus as well as enhance safety across all sectors.

Report has it that every year, about 1.7 billion cases of childhood diarrhea are recorded and over 1 trillion germs can live inside 1 gram of poop (about the weight of a paper clip). But a simple act of hand washing with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhea diseases by up to 47 percent.

Studies further revealed that hand washing with soap is cost-efficient and a smart investment for all countries, as $3.35 investment in hand washing can bring the same health benefits in terms of thousands of dollars in immunization investment. In fact, hand washing has been adjudged as a simple but effective vaccine.

15th October of every year marks another time to remind everyone the need to cultivate the habit of hand washing,  this year’s theme: “Raise a hand for hygiene” is action-oriented; when people raise a hand, they can also be counted in terms of hand washing. It is a reminder that it is possible for government to count how many people wash their hands and have access to hygiene facilities in homes, schools, and healthcare centers. Government must measure hygiene indicators to know where resources should be concentrated.

Country Representative of WaterAid in Nigeria, Dr. Michael Ojo, lamented that it was so unfortunate that too many children in Nigeria still die every year before their fifth birthday as a result of diarrhea and other diseases related to unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation and hygiene. “What is even sadder is the lack of access to the simple measures such as hand washing with soap which can help prevent diarrhea, pneumonia, and other diseases that stop many children from reaching their 5th birthday,” he lamented.

He added that hand washing with soap has an important role to play in child survival and health. It is also a cost-effective intervention that drastically reduce the incidence of diarrhea and respiratory infections among children under five. The theme for this year’s Global Hand washing Day: “Raise a hand for hygiene” couldn’t be more fitting, he noted.

Ojo noted that hand washing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year. He maintained that these two infections are responsible for the majority of all child deaths. Yet, despite its life-saving potential, hand washing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote.

The Principal, Government Secondary School Gaube Abuja, Mr Segun Bankole while speaking during the official hand over of Solar pump water borehole and hygiene materials to the school by Oxfam and Lebera Foundation, harped on the need to sustain hand washing culture among school children so as to prevent the spread of diseases.

He noted that ever since the spread of Ebola disease, he had written several times to the Ministry of Education demanding for the construction of borehole and provision of hygiene facilities for the school to no avail. He lamented that since the three years of existence of the school they have lacked portable water source and hygiene facilities, but stressed that despite the lack of potable water in the school, he always encouraged the students to go to the nearest source of water (which is about 5 kilometers to the school) in other to ensure that the students practiced good hygiene. So it was a dream come true when Lebera Foundation in partnership with Oxfam donated a solar pump water borehole for them.

Many government owned schools lack hygiene facilities and these have affected the ability of their health science teachers to actually train school children on proper washing of hands. Although there are different hand washing methods, most of the procedures are very similar in nature. Symbolic hand rinsing where a person may just put their hands under a running tap is not the proper way to cleanse them thoroughly.

Hygiene is the practice of keeping oneself and one’s environment clean as well as free of infection risk. Though many hygiene practices can assist in preventing disease, the one with the strongest evidence of effectiveness and cost-efficient in developing countries is hand washing with soap. Hands are vectors that can transport disease agents from person to person directly or indirectly via surfaces. Hands that have been in contact with faeces, nasal excretions and other bodily fluids, and not adequately washed, can vehicle large numbers of viruses, bacteria and possibly other parasites.

They can also carry pathogens from contaminated sources such as animal feaces bird feaces, contaminated foods, domestic or wild animals to new susceptible hosts. Hand washing is very important where people congregate like schools, offices, including  where ill or vulnerable people are concentrated such as hospitals, nursing homes among others. Pathogens could also spread where food is prepared and shared and in homes, especially where there are young children and vulnerable adults.

In developing countries, the biggest killers of young children are respiratory infections and diarrhea diseases and both are preventable via hand washing. Other diseases that are of public health importance with less impact of hand washing include  helminth infections (especially ascariasis)and eye infections, especially trachoma; others include shigellosis, typhoid, cholera, acute respiratory infections, etc.

There is strong evidence that hand washing with soap can considerably reduce the incidence of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections in children. The use of soap (or other mediums like sand or ash) has the added benefit that it increases the contact time, facilitates friction and breaks down grease and dirt (which contain the largest concentrations of microbes). The use of soap in addition results in fresh and clean smelling hands, which makes promotion much easier.

Furthermore, studies have showed that hand washing with soap is more effective than hand washing with only water to reduce fecal bacteria on hands.

Keeping your hands clean by following proper washing and drying procedures, is vital to stopping the spread of germs in kitchens and food production areas. Your hands are used every day to touch many things such as food, pets, and common items like doorknobs and handles. All of these have germs and bacteria on them, which in turn can easily be transported by your hands. Washing them is a simple and effective way to stop these germs and to help prevent diseases, such as colds, flu, and food poisoning.

Water by itself will not be able to remove many fats, oils, and proteins, all of which can harbour germs. For effective cleaning you should use the procedure below as a way to clear away as much bacteria as possible:
• If you are wearing any rings then it is best to take them off first.
• First of all wet your hands thoroughly with running water (preferably mild in temperature, but it can be hot or cold).
• Apply soap (antibacterial soap isn’t necessary, any bar or liquid soap will do).
• Start to rub your hands together to make a lather, make sure you scrub both sides of your hands, between your fingers, your wrists and under your nails.
• Keep rubbing them for at least 20 seconds (it may be difficult to time yourself precisely, but you should get it roughly right).
• Rinse your hands thoroughly with running water, making sure to remove all traces of soap.
• Dry your hands, preferably with a paper towel; however if this is not available then use a warm hand dryer or cotton towel.
• For further protection you may also want to consider turning off the water taps with a towel or your elbows.

Experts have said the best time to wash hand is before, during, and after handling any food; after going to the toilet; after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. Hand washing is very important because the most common means that germs are spread is by people’s hands.