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News Desk
SOPAC News Writer
Graphic Artist
Editor
- Lore Ratuyawa
- Sailesh Kumar Sen
- Lala Bukarau
In Celebration of the Global
Hand-washing Day
The SOPAC Division of SPC worked with
partners including the Ministry of Health,
UNICEF and Live & Learn Environmental
Education Fiji with kind support from Colgate
Palmolive to hold the national celebration on 15
October, 2011. Participating schools as well as
exhibition booths and displays from NGOs and
government departments helped in highlighting
the importance of hand-washing to the general
public.
Some life-saving facts on hand-washing:
• Simply washing hands with soap breaks the
transmission route of infectious diseases,
which is crucial in saving lives.
• Washing hands with soap at critical times can
reduce diarrhoeal incidence by 47%.
• Diarrhoea occupies a leading position among
diseases as a cause of death and illness,
especially in children. In the Pacific region,
around 3000 children under the age of 5 years
die from diarrhoea annually.
• Globally, hand washing could save around 1
million lives, more than any single vaccine or
medical intervention.
• Hand washing with soap at critical times
is a simple and cost-effective measure to
improve health and will significantly reduce
the two leading causes of childhood mortality
worldwide – diarrhoeal disease and acute
respiratory infection.
• Critical times include events such as after
going to the toilet; before preparing and eating
food; after you sneeze, cough or blow your
nose; after playing with your pets; and after
changing baby’s nappy or diaper.
• Simple is often beautiful, which is the case
with hand hygiene. Remember clean hands
save lives.
Water and Sanitation display booth at MHCC.