Washing hands can reduce infections by 50pc: experts

 

Children participate in a hand washing exercise organised by Wash recently. PHOTO | FILE 

By Fariji Msonsa, The Citizen Reporter  (email the author)
 

 

In Summary

Experts advice that washing hands every time before or after performing any of the important five actions reduces the chances of contaminations, which may lead to infections and diseases that at the end of the day become a major burden particularly on developing countries.

 

Dar es Salaam. Washing hands at the right time and in the right way can tremendously reduce preventable health infections. However, experience shows, and this is a common habit, most people wash their hands only when they are visibly dirty.

Experts advice that washing hands every time before or after performing any of the important five actions reduces the chances of contaminations, which may lead to infections and diseases that at the end of the day become a major burden particularly on developing countries.

One of the five actions that one is advised to thoroughly wash hands with soap and clean water is after having visited a toilet.

Speaking to The Citizen recently, water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ms Rebecca Budimu, said washing hands with soap or ash serves to reduce infections such as diarrhoea and cholera, especially among children who are the most affected group.

“It is important to develop a hand washing habit, especially among the children’s care givers. Research findings show that hand washing each moment after or before performing certain acts can reduce infections such as diarrhoea by about 50 per cent,” she said.

On the other hand, people need to wash hands each time they change nappy to their babies. Ms Budimu said that the child’s waste is as bad as that of an adult. However, some people think that it has no harm to health.

Since hand washing is an effective way to prevent the spread of diseases through viruses and bacteria that ones can carry on touching contaminated objects or surfaces, people are advised to always wash their hands before they prepare food.

If one wants to prepare food for a child or for a family, is advised to well wash their hands with adequate amount of soap, rubbing the hands together to create friction, and making sure that they wash them under running water. People who have no soap can wash their hands with adequate ash because experts say the powder has the same cleaning elements as a good soap.

As pointed out earlier, children are the most affected group by diseases related to infections compared to adults due to the fact that their immunes are not well developed to fight against all viruses and bacteria attacking them.

Therefore, it’s advised that before one feeds a baby or gives food to a child, hands must be thoroughly washed. But if a child can feed on its own, let the hands of the child be washed too.

It is also advised that all family members must was their hands before taking their meals. Though it has been stated to be prevailing among children, diarrhoea and other intestinal infections are likely to outbreak to anyone as long as hygiene practices are not adhered.

However, apart from the five most important actions that necessitate a person to wash hands, people may be required to wash when hands are visibly soiled, after blowing a nose or after sneezing in hands, after touching raw meat, poultry, or fish after handling garbage, visiting or caring for sick people and handling pets, animals or animal waste.

But hand washing is not only encouraged in homes, but also at institutions such as schools, hospitals and work places.

However, the situation in Tanzania is still not pleasing because some institutions, including schools, have no access to hand washing facilities.

Ms Budimu told The Citizen that, when a recent survey was conducted in 19 districts, which included 2,697 primary and secondary schools – both public and private, it was found that 99 per cent of them lack favourable hand washing services.

It was also revealed that about 84 per cent of schools in Tanzania lacked washing tools or soap.

“There are some schools that had access to washing services, but most of them lacked some essentials. There are some which had the tools and water, but without soap in their washrooms. While other did not have even water,” she said.

The problem is not only with schools, most hospitals in Tanzania have no favourable environment for patients and relative to practice hand washing while at hospitals. Due to shortage of water, patients have sometimes acquired some infections due to poor hygiene in hospitals.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), out of every 100 hospitalised patients, at least seven in developed countries and 10 in developing countries will acquire a healthcare related infection at the hospital. Among critically ill and vulnerable patients in intensive care units, that figure rises to around 30 per 100.