Global Handwashing Day.html |
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Global Handwashing Day is a campaign to motivate and mobilize millions around the world to wash their hands with soap. The campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of handwashing with soap as a key approach to disease prevention. The initiative was made at the annual World Water Week 2008, which was held in Stockholm from August 17 to 23 and initiated the Public Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW). The Global Handwashing Day took place for the first time on October 15, 2008, the date appointed by UN General Assembly in accordance with year 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation 1.
The theme for Global Handwashing Day’s inaugural year is “Focus on School Children”. The members have pledged to get the maximum number of school children handwashing with soap in more than 30 countries: Colombia, India, Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, Madagascar, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, the U.S., and the U.K.
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Background
The campaign was initiated to reduce mortality rates related to diarrhea diseases by introducing simple behavioral changes, such as hand washing with soap, which according to research can reduce the rate by almost 50 per cent 2.
Hand washing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, as automatic behavior performed in homes, schools, and communities worldwide. According to the official site turning handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit was projected to save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
Implementation and Management
The Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap (PPPHW) established Global Handwashing Day in 2008 as a stimulating way to promote a global and local vision of handwashing with soap. Members of the PPPHW include the World Bank and Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), host of the PPPHW; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); Procter & Gamble; Unilever; the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC); the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM); Johns Hopkins University (JHU); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)3. Resource for information and activities for the event coordinated through its official website.
In each country where activities are planned, a convening institution brings together other organizations that have an interest in handwashing to coordinate activities.