Global Handwashing Day: 15 October 2017

Global Handwashing Day is an annual advocacy day aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Celebrated annually on 15 October, Global Handwashing Day was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership.

Global Handwashing Day is designed to:

Foster and support a global and local culture of handwashing with soap;
Shine a spotlight on the state of handwashing around the world; and
Raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap.

The first Global Handwashing Day was held in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since 2008, community and national leaders have used Global Handwashing Day to spread the word about handwashing, build sinks and tippy taps, and demonstrate the simplicity and value of clean hands. Each year, over 200 million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the world.

The 2017 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Our hands, our future!” This theme promotes handwashing as a means to protect our own health, as well as promoting the benefits of handwashing with soap, and improving access to hygiene facilities, for a healthier future.

Every year, 1.4 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhea and pneumonia. Handwashing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent these diseases. This simple behaviour can save lives, cutting diarrhea by almost half and acute respiratory infections by nearly a quarter.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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