Everybody forgot about the humble hand wash until COVID-19 came around and demonstrated, how there is no one like it. Handwashing with soap and water has been part of personal hygiene for centuries now and it is a good reminder that a lot of times simple can also be lethal.
This link between washing hands and healthcare was noticed two centuries ago. Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor who is known as the father of hand hygiene set in motion the standards of handwashing in 1846 after finding out the puerperal fever could be prevented by handwashing with chlorine. After following it, the mortality rate fell drastically to 3%. Later, during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale carried out handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital she worked at. Her objective was to fight the miasmas by implementing handwashing procedures however, Nightingale’s handwashing practices achieved depletion of number of infections.
These practices developed by Semmelweis and Nightingale faced great resistance and were not widely accepted and practiced. Therefore, the handwashing practices almost went nowhere for over a century after. Several years later, a series of food borne outbreaks and infections related to healthcare sector took place in the 1980’s which became a real concern to the public. It was at that time the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recognized hand hygiene as vital to prevent the spread of infection. They became the first to nationally endorse hand hygiene guidelines and later many others in various countries followed suite.
The healthcare industry has been meticulous in adopting this, as thousands of people die every day around the world from infections acquired while receiving health care, and the main pathway of germ transmission is through the hands. Millions of people also suffer from food-borne illnesses every year and the fact is that our hands are responsible for the spread of an estimated 80% of common infectious diseases. Although food mostly gets contaminated during processing, studies show 40% of the food-borne illness outbreaks are a result of cross contamination due to lack of hand hygiene. This generally happens when the food handlers fail to wash hands adequately as often as necessary. The amount of food being processed has gone up exponentially in the recent years, hence there is a greater chance of food borne bacteria being spread to a greater number of people.
Good hand washing technique is easy to learn and can significantly reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Though we all agree it, the sad part is that many people do not wash adequately or frequently enough. As we all are currently witnessing how the world is battling the COVID-19 outbreak, it is time to believe the practice of maintaining hand hygiene is more important today than ever & that it is an important tool for achieving good health. Follow the below steps demonstrating proper technique developed by WHO.
We urge you all to practice washing your hands regularly. And it is important that you share this information with other folks as well. To help you in this endeavor, we have a poster depicting the right hand wash technique and this can be bought from our store.
