Kenya Joins In Celebrating The World Hand Hygiene Day

Today is the World Hand Hygiene Day, almost synonymous with the Global Hand Washing Day held on the 15th of October each year. The day reinforces the importance of proper hand hygiene practices to patients, their families and health workers.

[caption id="attachment_943" align="aligncenter" width="522"] Hand Hygiene Day aims at encouraging patients, their families and health workers to observe proper hand hygiene practices.[/caption]

Statics claim that out of 10 Kenyans 9 often don't wash their hands after using the toilet. We set out to find out whether Kenyans do wash their hands, by trailing a couple of children and a few adults. Our findings asserted that Kenyans actually do wash their hands, but few do so using soap.

Why should anyone care whether you wash your hands and whether you use soap or not? The answer is simple; you should care because it could directly affect your health and that of your loved ones. In Kenya alone it is estimated that about 38,000 children lose their lives to pneumonia and diarrhoea. Although the World Hand Hygiene Day is not given much attention in Kenya, the country has been recognizing the Global Handwashing Day particularly through shcool-based handwashing activities.

In 2010 Kenya set out to break the Guinness World Record, and claimed it, for the largest number of people using soap to wash their hands in multiple locations concurrently. In subsequent years schools across the country have kept on commemorating the day by hosting handwashing activities geared towards advocating for proper handwashing practices.

As the world observes this day, we would like to encourage you to wash your hands using soap and pass on this seemingly obvious life-saving information to family and friends.