The simple act that saves lives

Global Handwashing Day marked around the world

Children in London celebrate Global Handwashing Day with WaterAid by playing a popular hygiene game from Bangladesh which uses paint/chalk to illustrate how germs spread.

Credit: Matt Crossick/PA

15 October 2009

Millions of people across the world will today take part in marking a simple act that saves thousands of lives everyday.

Thursday 15 October is Global Handwashing Day. The day is focused on increasing awareness of the importance of hand washing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases.

More than 3.4 million children under five die every year from diarrhoea and pneumonia-related diseases. Washing hands with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhoea rates among children under five by almost 50 per cent, and respiratory infections by nearly 25 percent.

Oliver Cumming, WaterAid Policy Officer said: "It's horrific to think how many children die in the developing world every year from diseases that could so easily be prevented. Evidence shows that the simple act of handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhoea and pneumonia by 47% and 23% respectively."

Handwashing with soap - particularly at critical moments, including after using the toilet and before handling food – is a proven cost effective and life-saving intervention. Research in several developing countries illustrates that lack of soap is usually not the barrier – with the vast majority of even poor households having soap at home – rather, the problem is that soap is rarely used for hand washing.

Building on the successful inaugural Global Handwashing Day in 2008 - in which over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries - this year it is anticipated that millions of children across five continents will celebrate Global Handwashing Day again.

Cumming said: "Raising awareness of good hygiene is crucial, especially for those living in the developing world. Put simply, hand washing with soap is a straightforward and often overlooked behaviour that saves lives."

In Timor-Leste a special message, in the national language (Tetum), was sent out via SMS on Global Handwashing Day to 233,000 mobile users. This is an impressive 1 in 4 people of of Timor Leste's 1 million population! The message read:

In Tetum 
"Loron Mundial Fase Liman: Fase Liman ho sabaun maka hahalok kritical atu hamenos moras diareia no mear. Liman mos, asegura moris!"
 
In English
"Global Handwashing Day: Handwashing with soap is critical to reduce incidence of diarrhoea and respiratory infection. Clean hand, safe life."

For more information please contact: chloeirvine@wateraid.org or call +44(0)20 7793 4909

Notes to Editor

Global Handwashing Day was initiated in 2008 by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap, and it is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies and individuals around the globe. For further information, please visit www.globalhandwashingday.org

• At least 4000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
• 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
• Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.