Press Centre 2008/10/15: Health
In the fight to save children’s lives, washing hands takes centre stage
Logo of Global Handwashing Day
First Global Handwashing Day 2008 celebrated worldwide
NEW YORK, 15 October 2008 — Today marks the first ever Global Handwashing Day, celebrated in over 70 countries across five continents in an effort to mobilize and motivate millions around the world to wash their hands with soap.
Handwashing with soap is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrheal disease and pneumonia, which together are responsible for approximately 3.5 million child deaths every year.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). Global Handwashing Day reinforces the IYS’s call for improved sanitation and hygiene practices.
Fast Facts
- More than 5,000 children every day or 1.7 million children every year die from diarrheal diseases before the age of five. Diarrhea is the second most common cause of death in children accounting for 18 per cent of all under-five deaths1 .
- Handwashing at critical times - including before eating or preparing food and after using the toilet - can reduce diarrhea rates among children under 5 by almost 50 per cent2.
- Handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARI’s) by around 23 per cent3. Pneumonia, a major ARI, is the number one cause of mortality among children under five years old, taking the life of an estimated 1.8 million children per year4.
- Diarrhea and pneumonia, together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually5.
- Rates of handwashing around the world are low. Observed rates of handwashing with soap at critical moments – i.e, before handling food and after using the toilet - range from zero per cent to 34 per cent6.
- A recent study shows that handwashing with soap by birth attendants and mothers significantly increased newborn survival rates by up to 44 per cent7.
- Handwashing with soap is the single most cost-effective intervention to prevent diarrheal related deaths and disease.8
Children are highly susceptible to the diseases caused by a lack of effective sanitation and poor hygiene. More than 5,000 children under the age of five die every day as a result of diarrheal diseases, caused in part by unsafe water, lack of access to basic sanitation facilities and poor hygiene.
By washing hands with soap, families and communities can help reduce child morbidity rates from diarrheal diseases by almost 50 per cent.
To achieve this reduction, and for large scale, community-sensitive, and sustainable change to occur, partnerships with national and local governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), religious and community leaders, schools and the private sector are essential.
The inaugural Global Handwashing Day focuses on children and schools. After learning about improved hygiene behaviour in schools, children can act as agents of change by taking these messages home to their families and communities. From Afghanistan to Peru, children, school teachers, and parents will join celebrities, government officials, members of civil society and the private sector to raise awareness about handwashing with soap. 15 percentage points in the past decade, with 75 per cent of expectant mothers now receiving some antenatal care. At the same time, many countries have boosted coverage of skilled delivery attendance. In parts of Asia, for example, the proportion of women who have a skilled attendant present during delivery jumped from 31 to 40 per cent between 1995 and 2005. Increases have also been seen in many African countries. Ensuring that skilled personnel are present at all deliveries and that these personnel have access to emergency care where necessary is the most effective means of saving the lives of mothers.
Handwashing with soap, particularly after using the toilet and before eating, could significantly impact health, survival, child mortality, and help reduce poverty. Stepping up investment for water, sanitation and hygiene will speed the achievement of all eight Millennium Development Goals.
Other Global Handwashing Day activities around the world include the release of a handwashing song performed by The Wiggles that targets children, celebrity Public Service Announcements, and simultaneous handwashing events involving children around the world.
Global Handwashing Day is an initiative of the Public Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW), which is spearheaded by UNICEF; USAID; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Bank; Water and Sanitation Program; Unilever; and Procter and Gamble.
To view Global Handwashing Day website please visit: http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/
For further information, please contact:
Water and Sanitation Programme
Christopher Walsh, Tel: +1 202 473 4594
Public Private Partnership for Handwashing (Secretariat)
Eloy Parra Tel: +1 202 458 5292
UNICEF
Saira Saeed Khan, UNICEF Media, Tel: +1 212 326 7224
Sema Hosta, UNICEF Turkey, Tel: +90 312 454 1000
Unilever
Trevor Gorin, Global Media Directors Unilever, Tel: +44 207 822 6010, Mob: +44 7711 020438
Myriam Sidibe, Unilever Lifebuoy Handwashing Operations, Tel: +91 9967146309
Procter & Gamble
Jay Gooch, Associate Director Global External Relations, Tel: +1 513 626 4425
Aziz Jindani, P&G Safeguard Associate Director, Tel: +1 513 945 4048
1The State of the World’s Children 2008. Child Survival. UNICEF
2Curtis, V., and S. Cairncross. 2003. “Effect of Washing Hands with Soap on Diarrhea Risk in the Community: A Systematic Review.” Lancet Infectious Diseases 3: 275–81.
3Rabie, T and Curtis, V. (2006): Handwashing and risk of respiratory infections: a quantative systematic review. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 11(3), 258-267.
4The State of the World’s Children 2008. Child Survival. UNICEF
5The State of the World’s Children 2008. Child Survival. UNICEF
6Scott B, Curtis V & Rabie, T. 2003. Protecting children from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections: the role of handwashing promotion in water and sanitation programmes. WHO Regional Health Forum 7, 42–47
7Victor Rhee; Luke C. Mullany; Subarna K. Khatry; Joanne Katz; Steven C. LeClerq; Gary L. Darmstadt; James M. Tielsch. Maternal and Birth Attendant.Hand Washing and Neonatal Mortality in Southern Nepal Arch Pediatr AdolescMed. 2008;162(7):603-608.
8Cairncross, S. Valdmanis V. 2006. Water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. Chapter 41. In. Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. Second Edition. Edt. Jameson et al 2006. The World Bank. Washington DC: National Institutes of Health.
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