Global Handwashing Day

Water tap and soap bar. Susanne Jutzeler / Pixabay.com / 2016 / CC0 1.0

The 15th of October is Global Handwashing Day.

The day promotes awareness of the importance of handwashing, and provides an opportunity to remind people not only to be doing it constantly, but also of the proper, effective ways to do it.

Many people in the world shockingly lack access to facilities to properly wash their hands. Part of today’s world-wide initiative is to mobilize efforts to provide everyone with access to clean water and soap to wash their hands.

The organizers of the day hope to create an embedded, enduring culture of hand hygiene around the world.

Handwashing stops you from getting sick, and making others sick as well. Clean hands literally save lives.

Hand hygiene is an easy, effective and affordable way to massively improve public health by preventing diseases and the ensuing loss of well-being and even life that can result.

Knowledge of the importance of handwashing is really one of the major fundamental advances of modern times, even though we now take it for granted in the First World.

But it’s more important than ever now, because we live in an increasingly high-touch world. We spend all day touching keyboards, and stroking the screens of phones and tablets, which are teaming with germs. We’re punching numbers into bank machines and debit machines. We’re holding poles and rails on public transit.

Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto says:

“Objectively, hands are gross. Touch may not matter so much for COVID, but it almost certainly does for other serious viruses. The other reason is bacterial contamination. Most bacteria are harmless or beneficial. Our bodies are covered in bacteria, inside and out. But some types, associated with the ‘two Fs’ (food and feces) are very harmful. Between kitchens and bathrooms, our hands can get dangerously dirty.” ^[1]Colin Furness, Infection Control Epidemiologist, University of Toronto. Quoted in: Humphreys, Jessica Dee. Now that Thanksgiving’s within reach, is it safe to shake hands? Toronto, Canada: The Toronto Star. Sunday, 10 October 2021. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.thestar.com/life/together/snapshot/2021/10/10/now-that-thanksgivings-within-reach-is-it-safe-to-shake-hands.html

Did you know? “The temperature of the water does not appear to affect microbe removal when you are washing your hands: “It’s the lathering and scrubbing with the soap that lifts microbes from the skin. ^[2]U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Your life is in your hands: Global Handwashing Day is Oct. 15. Food Safety News. 15 October 2016. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/10/your-life-is-in-your-hands-global-handwashing-day-is-oct-15/

Pro tip 1: for those 20 to 30 seconds you are scrubbing your hands with soap before rinsing, consider turning off the running water to save water.

Pro tip 2: many foodbanks appreciate donations of bars of soap (unopened, and not partially used!)

Handwashing and food

Proper, conscientious handwashing is particularly important for anyone who wants to call themselves a cook.

When foodies and food blogs talk about cooking, they typically focus on exotic ingredients and glamourous presentation shots. But real cooks start right with the fundamentals of food safety built into every step they do, and that includes handwashing all throughout the cooking process. Every recipe on the web should start with: “Wash your hands, and ensure your work surface is clean!”

It’s often not enough to wash your hands just at the start of cooking. You will probably touch unwashed vegetables or raw meat as part of the cooking process, and you’ll need to wash your hands after handling those.

One of the most famous cookbook writers in the English-speaking world, Mrs Beeton, died at 28 because of lack of handwashing, though not on her part! “She died in 1865 of puerperal fever, almost certainly caused by the failure of the attending doctor to wash his hands before delivering her fourth child.” ^[3] Humble, Nicola. First Catch Your Cook. Manchester, England: The Guardian. Saturday, 15 October 2005.

When you sit down at a pub or a restaurant, make sure you visit the washroom to wash your hands first before the food arrives. If that’s not possible, use hand sanitizer before touching any food brought to you.

Toddler trying to wash their hands. Myriam / Pixabay.com / 2016 / CC0 1.0

Hand washing versus hand sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is good, but real actual handwashing is better:

“Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs and might not remove harmful chemicals.” ^[4]U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Your life is in your hands: Global Handwashing Day is Oct. 15. Food Safety News. 15 October 2016. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/10/your-life-is-in-your-hands-global-handwashing-day-is-oct-15/

Always prefer actual handwashing when you can:

“Hand sanitizer should only be used when proper hand washing cannot be done. Washing hands with warm water and soap is the most effective way to kill bacteria and harmful pathogens that may be on hands.” ^[5]October 15 is Global Handwashing Day. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Institute of Food Safety. 12 October 2020. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.foodsafety.ca/blog/october-15-global-handwashing-day

#GlobalHandwashingDay #Handwashing

Website: https://globalhandwashing.org/global-handwashing-day/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/globalhandwashingday/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/handwashingday

Activities for today

• Review proper handwashing techniques for yourself, it’s easy for all of us to get lax over the years;
• share information about handwashing on social media;
• institute a new household rule: upon arriving home, first thing to do is wash your hands;
• if you are a teacher, do an exercise with children on handwashing;
• if you are a food blogger, resolve to add a primary step to all your recipes about handwashing;
• locate a local artisan soap craftsperson, and buy handsoaps from them for yourself and for your friends and family as gifts;
• support an organization such as Soap for Hope or other such charity in your area which rescues from hotels hygiene products (soap bars, shampoo bottles, etc.) which would otherwise be discarded into landfill sites and diverts them to re-use in urban shelters, community facilities and remote communities.

Resources

• CDC handwashing videos
• Posters / Factsheets / Social Media graphics / blurbs
• UNICEF and WHO: Handwashing for all initiative
• Global Handwashing Day tools
• Global Waters toolkits

History

The Global Handwashing Day initiative was started by the Global Handwashing Partnership in 2008. Private companies, academic institutions, and non-governmental agencies have come together to support and direct the partnership.

Each year has a different theme for messaging:

• 2021 — Our Future is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together
• 2020 — Hand Hygiene for All
• 2019 — Clean Hands for All
• 2018 — Clean hands — a recipe for health
• 2017 — Our hands, our future
• 2016 — Make handwashing a habit
• 2015 — Raise a hand for hygiene
• 2014 — Clean hands save lives
• 2013 — The power is in your hands
• 2012 — I am a handwashing advocate
• 2011 — Clean hands save lives
• 2010 — Children and Schools
• 2009 — Spread the word, not the germs
• 2008 — School children

School children practising dry run of handwashing techniques, 2008. SuSanA Secretariat / flickr / 2008 / CC BY 2.0

Sources

American Cleaning Institute. Global Handwashing Day. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/global-handwashing-day

Balzer, Deb. Global Handwashing Day: Make it a family affair. Rochester, Minnesota: Mayo Clinic. 15 October 2019. Accessed September 2021 at https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/global-handwashing-day-make-it-a-family-affair/

CDC. Global Handwashing Day. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/global-handwashing-day.html/

Chan, Adam. Local soap producers in the spotlight for Global Handwashing Day. Vancouver, British Columbia: CTV News. 15 October 2020. Accessed September 2021 at https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/local-soap-producers-in-the-spotlight-for-global-handwashing-day-1.5146962

Global Handwashing Day 2021. Melbourne, Australia: Australian Nursery and Midwifery Journal. Accessed September 2021 at https://anmj.org.au/event/global-handwashing-day-2021/

Global Handwashing Day October 15th. Fife, Scotland: NHS Fife. October 2020. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.nhsfife.org/news-updates/latest-news/2020/10/global-handwashing-day-october-15th/

Masur, Susannah. Global Handwashing Day celebrated worldwide. UNICEF USA. 24 October 2011. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/global-handwashing-day-celebrated-worldwide/8073

October 15 is Global Handwashing Day. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Institute of Food Safety. 12 October 2020. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.foodsafety.ca/blog/october-15-global-handwashing-day

Rogers, Kristen. Wash your hands: Why this year’s Global Handwashing Day is more important now than ever. CNN. 15 October 2020. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/health/global-handwashing-day-2020-wellness/index.html

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Your life is in your hands: Global Handwashing Day is Oct. 15. Food Safety News. 15 October 2016. Accessed September 2021 at https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/10/your-life-is-in-your-hands-global-handwashing-day-is-oct-15/