Global Handwashing Day is October 15

Global Handwashing Day is October 15. And as every year, the day serves as a platform to raise global awareness on the importance of hand-washing with soap.

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an important reminder that one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of germs and stay healthy is also one of the simplest — handwashing with soap and water. Keeping hands clean can prevent 1 in 3 diarrheal illnesses and 1 in 5 respiratory infections, such as a cold or the flu.

This year’s theme, “Hand Hygiene for All,” seeks to raise awareness of making soap and water available globally, especially in public places, schools, and health care facilities. It also calls for institutions and individuals to improve hand hygiene efforts in the COVID-19 response that can outlast the pandemic and ensure continued access to clean water and soap. Calling for all of society to achieve universal hand hygiene now and for the future.
Many germs that can make people sick are spread when we don’t wash our hands with soap and clean, running water. That is why handwashing is so important, especially at key times such as after using the bathroom, when preparing food, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
Handwashing with soap and water is not only simple and inexpensive, but also can dramatically reduce the number of young children who get sick. Teaching people about handwashing helps them and their communities stay healthy. Handwashing education in the community can:

Reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by about 23–40%

Reduce absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29–57%

Reduce diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by about 58%

Reduce respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by about 16–21%

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COVID-19 - SYMPTOMS AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES

One of the major symptoms of covid-19 is sore throat. Other signs of symptoms include fever, cough, respiratory symptoms, difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath. if you feel you are  dealing with any of the combinations of the symptoms mentioned here:

then 

- isolate yourself as quickly as possible

-go for medical checkup as soon as possible  or call the public health authority.

"PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE"

To prevent the spread of COVID-19:

Wash your hands for 20 seconds regularly. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub.

Maintain a safe distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth.

Cover your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

Stay home if you feel unwell and self isolate from others.

If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention. Call in advance

- Pooja Sarkar

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Kindly Donate To Sustain Our Work In Corona Pandemic

Donation Details Are Below

DONATORS LOCATED IN INDIA

Account Number: 002101200566

Bank: ICICI 

Address: ICICI, Gurgaon Branch

Sco-18 & 19 Sector -14, Huda Shopping Center, Gurgaon -122001                   

RTGS/NEFT IFSC CODE: ICIC0000021

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Please email: communications@heeals.org

.

UNDERSTANDING THE CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK

Corona viruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). It is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. 

PREVENTIONS

1.      Regular hand washing: Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub if your hands are not visibly dirty.

2.      Covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing: When coughing and sneezing, cover mouth and nose with flexed elbow or tissue – discard tissue immediately into a closed bin and clean your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water

3.       Thoroughly cook meat and eggs: Handle raw meat, milk or animal organs with care, to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods, as per good food safety practices.

4.      Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing

5.     Practice respiratory hygiene

6.      Maintain social distancing: Maintain at least (3 feet) distance between yourself and other people, particularly those who are coughing, sneezing and have a fever. When someone who is infected with a respiratory disease, like 2019-nCoV, coughs or sneezes they project small droplets containing the virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the virus.

7.      Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth: Hands touch many surfaces which can be contaminated with the virus. If you touch your eyes, nose or mouth with your contaminated hands, you can transfer the virus from the surface to yourself. 

8.      If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early: Whenever you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing it’s important to seek medical attention promptly as this may be due to a respiratory infection or other serious condition. Respiratory symptoms with fever can have a range of causes, and depending on your personal travel history and circumstances, 2019-nCoV could be one of them.

9.       Practice general hygiene measures when visiting live animal markets, wet markets or animal product markets: Ensure regular hand washing with soap and potable water after touching animals and animal products; avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with hands; and avoid contact with sick animals or spoiled animal products. Strictly avoid any contact with other animals in the market (e.g., stray cats and dogs, rodents, birds, bats). Avoid contact with potentially contaminated animal waste or fluids on the soil or structures of shops and market facilities.

10.  Wearing a medical mask can help limit the spread of some respiratory disease: However, using a mask alone is not guaranteed to stop infections and should be combined with other prevention measures including hand and respiratory hygiene and avoiding close contact – at least (3 feet) distance between yourself and other people.

SOME POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND

1.      Hand dryers are not effective in killing the virus.

2.     UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.

3.      Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new corona virus. However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever. This is because it takes between 2 and 10 days before people who are infected become sick and develop a fever.

4.       Spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body will not kill viruses that have already entered your body. Spraying such substances can be harmful to clothes or mucous membranes (i.e. eyes, mouth). Be aware that both alcohol and chlorine can be useful to disinfect surfaces, but they need to be used under appropriate recommendations.

5.      It is safe to receive packages from China as they are not at risk of contracting the new corona virus. From previous analysis, we know corona viruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages.

6.     At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new corona virus. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets. This protects you against various common bacteria such as Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans.

7.     Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Homophiles influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, do not provide protection against the new corona virus.

8.      There is no evidence that regularly rinsing the nose with saline has protected people from infection with the new corona virus. There is some limited evidence that regularly rinsing nose with saline can help people recover more quickly from the common cold. However, regularly rinsing the nose has not been shown to prevent respiratory infections.

9.     Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties. However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new corona virus.

10.   Sesame oil does not kill the new corona virus. There are some chemical disinfectants that can kill the 2019-nCoV on surfaces. These include bleach/chlorine-based disinfectants, either solvents, 75% ethanol, per acetic acid and chloroform. However, they have little or no impact on the virus if you put them on the skin or under your nose. It can even be dangerous to put these chemicals on your skin.

 By-Tvisha 

Let’s WASH Coronavirus By Hand Washing !

Let’s WASH Coronavirus By Hand Washing !

Corona virus is nothing new. It has been with us for a long time. Corona virus can affect both animals and humans. It is important to keep in mind that most corona viral infections are mild. In the last two decades, there were two serious corona virus infections–severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) which both had elevated death rates.

Corona Virus: What To Do

So, what can you do? Wearing a mask will not help protect you from becoming ill with any viral infection—corona virus included. I would check that off the list.

First, it is important to maintain optimal levels of nutrients, particularly vitamins A, C, and D. Iodine is essential to not only fighting off an infection it is necessary for proper immune system functioning. There is no bacteria, virus, parasite or fungus that is known to be resistant to iodine.

Most people have suboptimal vitamin A and C levels. Both of these nutrients have antiviral abilities and are able to support the immune system when it is under viral attack.To prevent becoming ill and to avoid having a poorly responding immune system, it is vitally important to eat a healthy diet free of all sources of refined sugar. Refined sugar has been shown to negatively alter the functioning of the white blood cells for hours after ingestion.

Finally, it is important to maintain optimal hydration—drink water! Take your body weight in pounds, divide by two and the resultant number is the amount of water to drink per day in ounces. Dehydration ensures you will be much more likely to suffer serious problems from any infectious process.

Hand-washing does seem extremely obvious—which may be the problem. Those of us who have lived our entire lives removed from epidemics of cholera and other deadly hygiene-related outbreaks haven’t witnessed the power of hand-washing and take it for granted. But it may be the single most important thing any given person can do to help stop and prevent outbreaks.

Respiratory infections are diseases we very often give to ourselves. People are told to cover their coughs and sneezes, but studies show a vast majority don’t wash their hands after doing so. Someone carrying the pathogenic microbes might shake your hand, or touch a doorknob or desk that you later touch. Once you pick them up, if you touch your face, the circle is complete.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

Edited By : Gaurav

SOURCE https://vaccineimpact.com/2020/dr-brownstein-corona-virus-is-nothing-new-heres-what-to-do/?fbclid=IwAR1nJBoA66gJ2XJ71D3NM-bFF6jy2J_nHFmFbTsdySO3ZTjTwe9_papP93M

The importance of handwashing with soap in schools

Handwashing, also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning hands for the purpose of
removing soil, dirt, and microorganisms. Although it can prevent infection and save lives, good hand
hygiene is not widespread in domestic, school and healthcare settings. Only 19% of people across the
world wash their hands with soap after defecating. 35% of healthcare facilities have no water and
soap for handwashing, and only 21% of schools in developing countries have handwashing facilities.
Furthermore, compliance with handwashing behaviours are worse in many low-income settings.
UNICEF data show that nearly 900 million children have either limited or no handwashing service
at their school. 47% of schools worldwide do not have handwashing facilities with soap and water. ½
of schools in the least developed countries have no hygiene service at all.
Why is handwashing with soap important? few data…
Water alone does not dislodge dirt, grease, and the natural oils on hands, but soap helps break down
germ-carrying oils. Soap also facilitates rubbing and friction which can remove germs from the
hands, and so that germs can be rinsed away with water. Using soap also adds to the time spent
washing and ensures a more effective wash. With proper use, all soaps are equally effective at
removing germs that cause disease. Moreover:
• Washing hands with soap at critical times (after using the toilet, before eating and preparing food)
can reduce diarrhoea rates by more than 40%. Handwashing with soap is one of the most costeffective
interventions to prevent diarrhoea-related deaths and disease.
• Handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) by more
than 20%.
• Up to 50% of cases of malnutrition are caused by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene.
• Handwashing promotion in schools can play a role in reducing the number of days children miss
school. Studies reveal that promotion and distribution of soap in primary schools result in more
than 50% fewer days of absence among students compared to schools without such an
intervention.
• Health costs due to hygiene-related diseases can be reduced by good hygiene habits such as
handwashing with soap.
How can we change people’s hand washing behaviors?
Access to clean water and soap alone will not deliver the health and development benefits of
handwashing. It is true behavior change and the sustained and consistent practice of the new
behavior that ensures the positive results. Changing people’s behavior is difficult and complex, but
possible with the right approach and in the right context. Behavior change is not a rocket science, nor
a silver bullet; it is a social science and it requires a multi-disciplinary approach in order to design,
implement and evaluate programs more effectively. A collective effort from governments, donor
agencies, I/NGOs, local capacity based organizations (CBO), private sector, academia and civil
society is urgently needed in the sector to implement and evaluate sustainable handwashing
campaigns at scale.
In India, for example, the Mid-Day Meal which is a government flagship program operational in all
schools across the country serves nearly 110 million children in 1.3 million primary and upper
primary schools . It provides an excellent opportunity to influence hygiene practices of children
particularly handwashing with soap before meals. Learning this simple, but lifesaving habit in school,
also means that children can inculcate this among other household members too. As powerful agents
of behavioral change, children can take lessons they have learned at school back home to teach their
parents, siblings and elders on good hygiene behaviors such as handwashing with soap. It is a path
breaking innovation that can potentially improves the education and health outcomes of 110 million
children who have mid-day meal daily, across the country. Group Handwashing ensured that all
children wash hands in ‘groups’, stand facing each other, exchanges positive messages, make ‘eye to
eye’ contact and enjoy the process. Making this happen on an every-day basis before Mid-Day Meal
in every school of the country, leads to a new ‘social norm’ around handwashing before meals.
Global Handwashing Day and the international commitment:
Global Handwashing Day (October 15th) was established in 2008 as a platform to advocate for
greater attention to hand hygiene. This effort, combined with many other efforts to bring attention to
the need for improved water supply, sanitation, and hygiene, have resulted in the inclusion of
handwashing as an indicator within the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically, 6.2.1). With
this, more countries than ever before have begun to include handwashing with soap as an indicator in
their routine data collection.
Target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls on the global community to achieve
access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030. Despite this, hygiene still gets
low levels of political attention in low and middle-income countries. One explanation for this is that
historically, the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector focused on building taps and toilets,
whilst the healthcare sector focused on treating patients and behaviour change has always been seen
as a difficult undertaking. Target 6.2 indicators for handwashing include the ‘proportion of
populations with handwashing facilities with soap and water at home’. However, this indicator is just
a proxy measurement, and doesn’t tell us whether people are actually practicing handwashing. There
is therefore a need for each country to set up a behavioural outcomes-related indicator in addition to
target 6.2. Though there is growing recognition of the importance of behaviour change it is still
highly neglected. The biggest challenge in the WASH sector right now is how to achieve sustained
hygiene behaviour change at scale, and attain Global Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation for all).
Our commitment:
HEEALS (Health, Education, Environment And Livelihood Society) is one of those organizations
directly involved in implementing hand washing with soap in children’s daily routine. It is working on
WASH (water, sanitation and Hygiene) projects in seven states: Delhi (National Capital Region),
Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal, Uttranchal, Leh and Uttar Pradesh. HEEALS works in slum
schools, schools in unauthorised colonies, orphanages and refugee camps. Through spreading
education on sanitation and personal hygiene and delivering basic hand washing material, HEEALS
is working to increase the attendance rates of pupils in schools, reduce the number of diseases and
deaths and improve the health of people across Indian society.

-Manuel
WASH Intern


References:
- Curtis V, Kanki B, Cousens S, Sanou A, Diallo I, Mertens T. Dirt and diarrhoea: Formative research in hygiene
promotion programme. Oxford University Press 1997; (12(2)): 122-31.
- Freeman M, Stocks M, Cumming O, Jeandron A, Higgins J, Wolf J, et al. Hygiene and health: systematic review of
handwashing practices worldwide and update of health effects. Tropical Medicine and International Health. 2014; 19(9):
906-16.
- WHO, UNICEF. Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: Status in low- and middle-income countries and
way forward; 2015.
Links:
https://globalhandwashing.org/handwashing-with-soap-why-should-we-care/
https://washdata.org/reports
http://unicef.in/story/129/fast-facts-and-figures-about-handwashing
https://globalhandwashing.org/about-handwashing/faqs/