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Hand washing with soap could save thousands of lives: UNICEF
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For healthier life – A local resident repairs his water pump in a spring in Sugihmanik village, Grobogan, Central Java, on Oct.6. The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry is set to develop community-based sanitation facilities in 753 locations this year. (Antara/Aji Styawan)
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NICEF is calling on children, families and communities to make washing hands with soap a habit to help prevent the spread of disease.
“Every year, 1.4 million children are dying from largely preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea,” UNICEF global head of water, sanitation and hygiene Sanjay Wijesekera said in a statement on Friday.
“These are staggering numbers, but they could be greatly reduced by working with children and families to adopt a very straightforward solution – hand washing. We know, for example, that hand washing with soap before meals and after using the toilet could reduce the incidence of diarrheal infections by 40 percent.”
The Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – 2014 report reveals that every year between 136,000 and 190,000 children die in Indonesia before they can celebrate their fifth birthday. This means that every hour between 15 and 22 children die in Indonesia, in most cases from preventable causes linked to diarrhea and pneumonia.
UNICEF says this can be drastically reduced by good sanitation and hygiene as over 80 percent of diarrhea deaths are linked to incomplete water, sanitation and hygiene provision.
The UN body further said that proper hand washing also contributed to the healthy development of children by keeping them in school. Hand washing improves school attendance by reducing the spread of preventable diseases, which means children are not staying home because of illness, it says.
“Hand washing just makes sense as a frontline preventive measure to keep children safe from disease – it’s simple, cost effective and a proven lifesaver,” said Wijesekera. (ebf)
