Know the importance of washing your hands

Keeping our hands clean is 1 of the most vital steps we take in order to avoid sickness & spread of germs. Many conditions & diseases get spread due to not washing hands properly with clean running water and soap.

Washing hands properly prevents spread of infections and illness. Hand Wash using soap eliminates the germs from our hands. This helps in prevention of infections because:-

• Individuals frequently touch their mouth, eyes and nose without realizing it. The germs may enter into our body through mouth, eyes and nose & make us ill.
• Germs from an unwashed hand may enter into food & drinks while individuals consume or prepare them. Germs may amplify in some kind of foods & drinks, in certain conditions & make individuals ill.
• Germs from an unwashed hand may enter other objects, such as handrails, toys, table tops & then spread to other individual’s hands.
• Removal of germs through handwashing, hence, helps in prevention of diarrhea & respiratory infections & can even help in prevention of eye & skin infections

Teaching individuals and communities regarding proper hand wash helps them stay healthy. Educating about proper hand wash in a community helps:

• Lower the number of individuals who fall ill with diarrhea by 23% to 40%
• Lower diarrheal sickness in individuals having weak immune systems by 58%
• Lowers respiratory sickness, such as cold, in general masses by 16% to 21%
• Lowers the absenteeism of school children because of gastrointestinal sickness by 29% to 57%
• Proper hand wash helps fight the upsurge in antibiotic resistance
• Prevention of ailments lowers the quantity of antibiotics individuals take & the chances that the antibiotic resistance can develop. Proper hand wash may prevent around 30% of the diarrhea-related ailments & around 20% of the respiratory infections such as colds. Antibiotics are often needlessly prescribed for such health problems. Lowering the number of these infections by proper hand wash frequently assists in prevention of overuse of antibiotics.