Weekly

October 12, 2012 / 61(40);821

The fifth annual Global Handwashing Day will be observed on October 15, 2012. This observance increases awareness and understanding of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable method of preventing disease around the world.
Handwashing with soap has an important role to play in child survival and health. About 2.2 million children aged <5 children="children" diarrheal="diarrheal" die="die" diseases="diseases" each="each" from="from" i="i" killers="killers" of="of" or="or" pneumonia="pneumonia" the="the" top="top" two="two" worldwide="worldwide" year="year" years="years" young="young">1

). Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhea by 30% (2) and respiratory infections by 21% (3) among children aged <5 p="p" years.="years."> Although persons around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes bacteria much more effectively (4).
Additional information on Global Handwashing Day is available from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/features/globalhandwashing. General handwashing information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing. Information on water-related hygiene is available at http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/index.html.

References

Liu L, Johnson HL, Cousens S, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. Lancet 2012;379:2151–61.
Ejemot RI, Ehiri JE, Meremikwu MM, Critchley JA. Hand washing for preventing diarrhoea. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008;(1):CD004265.
Aiello AE, Coulborn RM, Perez V, Larson EL. Effect of hand hygiene on infectious disease risk in the community setting: a meta-analysis. Am J Public Health 2008;98:1372–81.
Burton M, Cobb E, Donachie P, Judah G, Curtis V, Schmidt WP. The effect of handwashing with water or soap on bacterial contamination of hands. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2011;8:97–104.