Global Handwashing Day

Students in Chhattisgarh demonstrate handwashing.

Credit: WaterAid

11 November 2008

On 15 October 2008, the first ever Global Handwashing Day was celebrated throughout the country.

Estimates show that around two million children in India die of diarrhoeal diseases every year. Handwashing before handling food and after defecation can bring down these deaths by as much as 47%. The day focussed on children's power to change the hygiene habits of both themselves and their families.

WaterAid India launched a nationwide handwashing campaign which was inaugurated by the Honourable Minister for Rural Development Shri. Raghuvanshi Prasad Singh in March 2006. The campaign has since expanded its educational reach and is currently looking to partner with public and private bodies, civil society organisations and the government.

WaterAid India and its partners incorporated Global Handwashing Day into this campaign by taking it to local levels in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Orrisa and Jharkhand. Targeting community based organisations, schools, parents and regional governments; the day's events reached more than 200,000 children in the ongoing global fight against water and sanitation related diseases like diarrhoea and typhoid. 

The famous guests pledge their allegiance to handwashing in New Delhi.

Credit: WaterAid

In New Delhi the event, hosted by Hindustan Unilever's Lifebuoy, FXB Suraksha, AFPRO, Plan India and WaterAid, was attended by government representatives, celebrities, private companies and other charities.

The event saw 1,500 school children take a handwashing oath after a pledge of allegiance from the Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ms Santha Sheela Nair, Bollywood director Farah Khan, cricket star Yuvraj Singh, and child star Zain Khan, also known as 'Harry Puttar'.