As people’s life is returning to normality in a phased manner in green zones that have not reported COVID-19 for more than three weeks, hand hygiene is an important point to remember for keeping infections away. It is also a vital part in the phase 2 of the Break the Chain campaign.
“Make hand hygiene a global priority and inspire behaviour change. These are the basic lessons that need to be taught at school,” said G.S. Praveen, Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, Ernakulam Government Medical College.
“Even masks may get discarded in a few months from now, but hand hygiene stays,” he said.
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On Tuesday, the World Health Organisation is observing Global Hand Hygiene Day with the campaign Save Lives: Clean your hands. WHO calls upon health workers and members in the community to play a role by practising regular and frequent handwashing.
There is more responsibility as the world looks to the nursing community to lead the way, according to Roy K. George, national president of Trained Nurses Association of India.
It is estimated that regularly washing hands with soap and water could reduce diarrhoeal disease-associated deaths by up to 50%, prevent a large percentage of food-borne illnesses, reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16%, and could avert a million deaths a year usually, said Dr. Rakesh P.S., WHO consultant for Kerala.
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Handwashing is one of the most effective, simple and low-cost actions you can take to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including COVID-19, as per the WHO advice.