During one of my last classes of ECON
309, we discussed health policies in developing countries and it was
interesting to see that communicable diseases are #1 cause of death in these
countries.
Many of these diseases can be prevented using inexpensive actions such as handwashing. Handwashing is an intervention
consisting of a frequent cleansing of hands with soap and water in order to
reduce fecal-oral transmission through hand contact. This intervention helps to reduce the risk of
diarrhea or other parasitic diseases. Many studies have been carried out to
analyze the effects of hand-washing on neglected infectious diseases in
developing countries concluding that this intervention can reduce 32% of diarrhea cases in these countries.
However, the paper “Setting priorities,targeting subsidies among water, sanitation, and preventive healthinterventions in developing countries” summarizes results from 10 studies on
hand-washing, concluding that hygiene education should be accompanied with this action to guarantee the most effective results. There is evidence that free distribution of soap to
households, for example, does not guarantee high levels of usage if this intervention
does not come with health education to emphasize its value.
A project developed in Peru, called “Global Scaling Up Handwashing”, which consisted of mass media and
community level interventions to disseminate hand-washing actions in 800 randomly
selected districts, demonstrated that mass media was not effective;
however, community interventions were more effective in reaching the targeted
population through promotional hand-washing messages.
Notwithstanding the potential benefits from
hand-washing, according to the World Bank, only 3% to 34% of people wash their
hands routinely in developing countries. Therefore, there is a need to continuing advocacy on handwashing actions.
The Global Handwashing Day was celebrated on October 15th to promote the importance of handwashing worldwide and it was interesting to observe the correct way to wash hands: Do you know how?
Below you can see the appropriate way to do it:
I completely agree that handwashing is very important! Those signs in restaurants that say "employees must wash hands before going back to work" should not even be necessary, people should automatically wash their hands before going back to work. It's honestly disgusting to think that people wouldn't wash their hands especially if they work in the food business.
ReplyDeleteI am very anal when it comes to my hands, and I think that comes from working in the food industry for over a year. People really don't wash their hands, and its a sick thing to think about but it's true. I hate having to open public doors because of that reason. You honestly don't know where someone else's hands have been.
ReplyDelete"Very anal"
DeleteAs a health major, I should support hand washing. I believe it prevents some diseases to spread and would help people not get sick as much. On the other hand, having lived in big cities (8 million people) and taking public transportation, which never gets "sanitized" in any way, I couldn't care less about people washing their hands or not. Yes, people need to keep their babies away from these viruses and diseases because they are more vulnerable to catching diseases. I have worked in construction and people would laugh in your face if you told them to wash their hands after using the bathroom because they go outside to dirt and mud right after. I think there are more major things we can worry about but there is no doubt that washing hands is a good thing. BUT people who are working have to wash their hands. I don't care if I eat with dirty hands but I don't want anyone else touching my food with their dirty hands.
ReplyDeleteP.S. communicable disease includes AIDS and it is arguable that acute diarrhea has some benefits to it.
ReplyDeleteWashing hands is the easiest and cheapest way to prevent communicable illnesses. Yes, sometimes it is hard to access a bathroom but hand sanitizers are also cheap and easy to carry around. I like that you provided a step-by-step picture on how to properly wash hands. I have learned things that I never really thought doing (for example number 5 and 6)!
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great topic to pick. Everyone might know that they should wash their hands but a lot of people don't witch results in diseases being spread. I feel like more being need to learn what not washing their hand can do to them and other people around them. Also I love how you put a diagram of the right way to wash your hands. The people that do wash their hand don't do it right most of the time because they are always on the go.
ReplyDelete