It is an international handwashing promotion campaign, that will motivate and mobilize people around the world to improve their handwashing habits regularly.
This day is celebrated on 15th October and you know each year, globally around 200 million people celebrate this Global Handwashing Day.
The main motto of this day is to stay away from germs and diseases. Germs are everywhere around us and we should wash our hands especially before eating so that they can’t enter into our body.
It has been noted that pneumonia and intestinal diseases can be reduced by 25-50% by washing our hand.
So, do you know why we are forcing you all to be health-conscious? The answer is because of this.
Global Handwashing Day History:
Global Handwashing Day was started by the Global Handwashing Partnership in August 2008 at the annual World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden.
The first Global Handwashing Day took place on 15th October 2008. This date was appointed by the United Nation’s General Assembly. As per this the year 2008 was also known as the International Year of Sanitation.
AS this day was founded on 15th of October, so because of this it is observed or celebrated on the same date globally every year.
Handwashing day was founded by some of the well-known MNCs of the world. Those companies are like Procter & Gamble, UNICEF, Unilever, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention etc.
Themes you should know for Handwashing Day:
Every year this international day is celebrated with a different theme to spread awareness among individuals.
This year 2020 also have a unique theme which you should know about. I am giving you some recent year’s theme so that you can relate it.
For the year 2017, the theme was – “Our Hands, Our Future”. This theme was given by the United Nations General Assembly to spread awareness about the importance of handwashing.
The theme of global handwashing day 2018 was “Clean hands – A recipe for health”. Yes of course a clean hand leads to healthy health.
Hand washing is not just a daily task that we have to do, however, it is an irreplaceable and an obligatory thing to do on a regular basis to maintain hygiene.
The theme for global handwashing day 2019 was “Clean Hands for All”. This theme explains the importance of clean hands and also promotes cleaning our hands so that we can conquer against the harmful pathogens.
Now, the global handwashing day 2020 theme is – SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands.
I guess this theme suits this year 2020 because, in this COVID-19 pandemic, we can save many lives by maintaining social distancing, cleaning our hands regularly & avoid unnecessary travelling.
The theme for this year 2021 has been undecided yet.
Global Handwashing Day Activities:
To celebrate this day many activities can be organized by the local communities and by the teachers in the school.
We can organize some interesting events and also planned for gaming activities. Due to this the people who are not aware of this day can able to know.
If we can measure, every year more than a month is lost because of our illness.
In these infection times, if we wash our hands regularly & properly, we can guard ourselves against these kinds of deadly infections.
If every person in our locality including school-going children, teachers, official staff, workers, medical staffs, social workers, guardians & even the general public make a habit of handwashing then we can able to reduce the infection rate and can create a healthy environment.
Global Handwashing Day is celebrated every year on October 15 and I think this is the perfect opportunity to teach our community about the critical role they play in infection control.
We can use this day to talk about why handwashing is so important & how to do it right and when to do it, too.
Here are some great ways for students to observe Global Handwashing Day in their respective schools/colleges:
1. Rally for handwashing and school pride. We can arrange a school/college-wise event to celebrate the Global Handwashing Day by arranging a rally for a big game.
Our school/college nurse or other health workers, advocates in the community can speak about the importance of handwashing. Keep it fun with songs and games related to the topic.
2. Hold a “handwashing game show.” Select school/college celebrities like favourite teachers or the principal so that they can host the meeting.
By arranging a fun prize related to the event at the end. It can be a great resource for important facts about handwashing that everybody should know.
3. Make it a competition. Put a chart in the classroom and at home that tracks each time whether they wash their hands all week or not.
Encourage parents to participate in this game and get teachers and staff on the competition too. The contest can end with prizes and recognition for the top hand washers at the end of every week.
4. Get hip to handwashing. Online media is a very good tool nowadays for connecting with the network. One can share global handwashing day hashtags, like #HappyHandwashingDay, #iwashmyhands, to advance their school’s handwashing endeavours.
2020 Campaign Objectives
The primary objective of Global Handwashing Day is to notice that handwashing is one of the best moves you can make to diminish the spread of bacteria and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 infection.
The health workers, medical staff, cleaning staff, community members and some of the NGOs are always involved in social services & cleaning activities. But still, they are able to prevent the infections by practising regular and frequent handwashing.
As a major aspect of the 2020 mission, world health organization (WHO) aims to:
- Focus on handwashing as a global priority
- Motivate hand cleanliness and behaviour change
- Engage with the health care workers and appreciate them, as their primary job is to clean & prevention of infections.
The mission was set on a strategy to give safe workplaces to all the medical and health workers and improve staffing levels.
We can share our effort to encourage other people through social media by Taking the part in WHO’s #SafeHandsChallenge.
Facts and Figure related to this Handwashing Day
In India, Madhya Pradesh won the Guinness World Record for the most massive handwashing program.
In that program, approximately 12,76,425 children from 51 different districts participated which was held on 15th October 2014.
According to research, it has been noticed that an individual comes into contact with 300 surfaces in every 30min, which gives you to 840,000 germs. Some important facts that we should know are as follows,
- Just about 5% of individuals wash their hands effectively.
- Most of the people just wash their hands for 6 seconds & around 33% of individuals do not utilize soap while washing their hands.
- Up to 80% of transmittable diseases are stimulated by contact.
If we properly wash our hand it can reduce diarrhoea rates by 40% and respiratory infections 20%. Neglecting to wash hands accurately adds to almost 50% of all foodborne disease outbreaks.
Another fact is that just 20% of People wash their hands before getting ready for food, and 39% before eating food.
About 7% of ladies and 15% of men don’t wash their hands at all After utilizing the washroom.
Most of the bacteria are on the fingertips and under the nails of our hands. The number of bacteria is increasing twice after using the bathroom.
The majority of people wash their palms but they forget to wash their fingers of their hands properly.
Wet hands are the reason for the spreading of bacteria very quickly than dry hands.
Just about 20% of people dry their hands subsequent to washing them. Approximately 39% of individuals don’t wash their hands subsequent to sniffling, coughing or in the wake of cleaning out their nose.
Some Catchy Quotes for Global Handwashing day 2020
Here are some of the catchy quotes for this day that you are looking for. If you like our quotes then don’t forget to share them with your friends.
So, here is the complete information about the handwashing day of 2020. So, be the part of the crew and let’s celebrate this day from home & make a safe online celebration.
If you want some more information regarding this day, then do comment on the comment section.
Thanks for reading.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the benefit of wearing a mask and washing our hand regularly?
The biggest advantage of wearing a mask is protecting others from you in the event that you are sick or asymptomatic. When going out to the grocery store, we might be able to protect the grocery counter clerk from us by putting them on.
Because of proper handwashing, we also stop the spreading of pathogens in our family or even in our locality. So, it is an advantage of wearing of mask and handwashing regularly.
2. How many times we should wash or sanitize our hand in a day in the period of COVID 19?
It is difficult to tell how many times you have to do hand wash in a day. Because it varies from person to person. But, in my opinion, it is very good to wash our hands or sanitize it frequently when we do some work or meet someone.
So, in this COVID-19 pandemic, it is better to wash our hands properly before the time of eating and after eating. One can also sanitize their hands in every 1-hour gap if he or she involved in a certain work or meeting someone.
3. Is Handwashing with soap for ten seconds is enough to prevent the spread of coronavirus?
Yes, of course, it is enough to prevent the spreading of coronavirus by washing our hand with soap for a minimum of 10 seconds.
It doesn’t depend upon the duration of time that you are given for hand washing. But it depends upon how many times you clean your hands after doing some work or get in touch with someone.
4. Is washing hands every day good or bad for the body overtime?
Daily hand washing is a very good habit and it can maintain your hygiene. But you know “Too much of anything is good for nothing.”
If you wash your hands’ overtime then there might be some chance of reducing your immune power.
Due to overhand washing, the skin of your hands and palms may become thinner which is not good for your body.