Wash your Hands to protect yourself and your Family from getting Sick

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What is hand hygiene?

Hand hygiene means washing your hands with soap in order to remove germs and dirt particles. It prevents you from many diseases such as influenza, diarrhea, cholera etc. You interact with the world and your hands are exposed to many microorganisms. Therefore, wash your hands frequently for at least 20 secs.

Why is washing hands important?

It is important because you can touch your eyes, nose, mouth uncountable times in just a few minutes, so the germs on your hands make you ill. Washing hands in running water with soap can prevent illness. It affects the healthier person, as well as a person with low immune system can also be affected.

You can be the source of spreading germs if you are not taking proper hand hygiene.

According to a study made in 2013 showed improvement in the health of children under 5 years due to hand washing.

People living in rural areas are more affected because they don’t have clean water. Washing hands prevent from impetigo which spreads from physical contact.

When to wash your hands?

You should take personal hygiene everyday but washing hands is more important.

Always perform hand hygiene before:

Eating
Preparing food
Drinking
When removing contacts
When applying contacts
When you go to treat a sick person
Treat wounds
Use of public transport

Always perform hand hygiene after;

Use of toilets
Changing diaper
Taking medicines
Using eye drops
Afters sexual or intimate activity
Touching pets
Treating ill person
Coughing
Sneezing
Blowing nose
Handling garbage
Handling money or receipt
Feeding pets
Using contact lenses

Perform hand hygiene in just 20 seconds

How to wash your hands?

Here is a step-by-step guide to help you wash your hands:

Wet your hands with cold or warm water
Apply hand soap
Rub your hands for 20 seconds
Rub back, front, wrist and the gaps between your fingers
Rinse well with warm or cold water
Dry your hands with soft dry cloth or towel

Hand washing methods

With antiseptic: hand sanitizer or hand antiseptic don’t have any water for disinfection. It is a hygiene agent used for hands worldwide. You can use it when you don’t have any soap or water that can kill your hand germs. Take a small amount of antiseptic in your palm and rub it with another hand and disinfect your hands in just a few seconds.
Solid soap: we can use it many times because only water can’t do anything. It needs some kind of soap or liquid. The bacteria is rinsed off with the foam but due to reusing nature liquid hand wash is more preferable for hands.
Antibacterial soap: it has antibacterial agents like triclosan which are not found in common soaps. It has the same properties as common soap to rinse off the bacteria.
Water: cold water is comfortable for washing hands but because it is not hot enough to kill the bacteria, warm water is more effective for hand hygiene. Bacteria grow faster in 37 °C . Scientific studies show that warm water has no effects to reduce the microorganisms in your hand.
Ash or mud; people living in rural areas cannot afford soap or hand detergents, instead they use ash or mud for cleaning their hands. It may be effective but less effective as compared to any soap and hand detergent. Ash and mud are increased in microorganisms because it is low in quality. They don’t reduce and provide hygiene but increases the risk of high microorganisms. But ash is effective with water use as a disinfecting agent when soap is not available. It forms an alkaline solution.

How to use alcohol based hand sanitizer?

Hand sanitizer contains 60 to 95% alcohol which is effective against germs. It dries quickly because of alcohol.

It kills 99% microorganisms in 30 seconds after applying it. Take a small amount of sanitizer in your palm and gently rub it with the other hand including back, front, middle of the fingers and wrist.

Is hand hygiene effective for coronavirus?

Yes it is effective because washing hands is very important against corona virus because you are touching your hands on your nose, mouth, face many times. Your hands can become a source of spreading virus, so use hand sanitizer several times in a day.

Your children also need hand hygiene

Here are some tips for kids to take hand hygiene;

If you are a parent or teacher perform hand hygiene in front of your kids so they will also try to follow those steps.
Take hygiene with your children’s favorite poem or characters they like. It attracts your kid towards you so it will be easy to teach hand hygiene to your children.
If your child does not reach the level of the sink bring some foot step or stool.
Use attractive soaps or different colors of liquid soaps that attract your child.
Supervise your children to use sanitizer as it contains alcohol and can be dangerous so take them back after using.
Try to play games with your children while taking hand hygiene.

Take Away!

There are just easy and few steps for washing hands which are; wet, lather, scrub, rinse and dry. Trying to adopt this habit as it can save you and others from germs and diseases like diarrhea. It takes only 20 seconds. Try to perform 5 times a day.