Global Handwashing Day: Global Hand washing Day (GHD) is an international hand washing promotion campaign to motivate and mobilize people around the world to improve their hand washing habits. This day aims to make people around the world aware of the importance of washing their hands with soap in order to prevent diseases and infections.
Global Handwashing Day
Global Hand washing Day occurs on 15 October of every year. The global campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of hand-washing with soap and water as a key factor to disease prevention. With proper handwashing, respiratory and intestinal diseases can be reduced by 25–50%.
The Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) (formerly called “Public Private Partnership for Handwashing” (PPPHW)) established Global Handwashing Day in 2008 to promote a global and local vision of handwashing with soap.
Each year, over 200 million people celebrate Global Handwashing Day.
On 15 October 2014, Madhya Pradesh, an Indian state, won the Guinness World Record for the most massive handwashing program. There were 1,276,425 children in 51 different districts participating.
Global Handwashing Day Themes
Every year, the global handwashing day is celebrated with a specific theme focusing on increases the habit of hand washing with soap and water.
| 2023 | “Clean hands are within reach.” This year’s theme highlights the progress that has been made around hand hygiene commitment and action in recent years, while also calling for more concerted efforts to ensure hand hygiene targets are met. |
| 2022 | Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene |
| 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 | The focus for Global Handwashing Day’s inaugural year in 2008 was school children. In that year, the members pledged to get the maximum number of school children handwashing with soap in more than 70 countries. In India in 2008, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and his teammates joined an estimated 100 million schoolchildren around the country in lathering up for better health and hygiene as part of the first Global Handwashing Day. |
The campaign was initiated to reduce childhood mortality rates and related respiratory and Diarrhoeal diseases by introducing simple behavioral changes, such as handwashing with soap. This simple action can reduce the mortality rate of respiratory disease by 25%. Death from Diarrhoeal diseases can be reduced by 50%. Across the world, more than 60 percent of health workers do not adhere to proper hand hygiene. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US health care providers, on average, wash their hands less than half of the time they should. On any given day, one in 25 US hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection.
Importance of Handwashing
1 – Handwashing with soap is a very effective and the least expensive way to prevent diarrhea and acute respiratory infections.
2 – Pneumonia, a major ARI (acute respiratory infection), is the number one cause of mortality among children under five years old, killing an estimated 1.8 million children per year. Diarrhea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually.
3 – Handwashing with soap is estimated to reduce cases of diarrhea by 30% and respiratory infections by 21% in children under the age of five.
4 – Getting into the habit of handwashing with soap before meals and after using the toilet will save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
5 – Handwashing is often carried out in conjunction with other sanitation interventions as part of WASH programs for water, sanitation and hygiene.
6 – Handwashing with soap and water is one of the simplest, most effective ways to stop the spread of germs and stay healthy. Keeping hands clean can prevent 1 in 3 diarrheal illnesses and 1 in 5 respiratory infections, such as the common cold or flu.
7 – Many germs that can make people sick are spread when we don’t wash our hands with soap and clean, running water. That is why handwashing is so important, especially at key times such as after using the bathroom, when preparing food, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
8 – Although handwashing with soap is critical in the fight against infectious diseases, including COVID-19, globally, around 3 in 10 people – or 2.3 billion – do not have handwashing facilities with water and soap available at home. The situation is worst in the least developed countries, with over 6 in 10 people without access to basic hand hygiene, UNICEF warned on Global Handwashing Day.
How Germs Spread
Washing hands can keep you healthy and prevent the spread of respiratory and diarrheal infections. Germs can spread from person to person or from surfaces to people when you:
- Touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
- Prepare or eat food and drinks with unwashed hands
- Touch surfaces or objects that have germs on them
- Blow your nose, cough, or sneeze into hands and then touch other people’s hands or common objects
Key Times to Wash Hands
You can help yourself and your loved ones stay healthy by washing your hands often, especially during these key times when you are likely to get and spread germs:
- Before, during, and after preparing food
- Before and after eating food
- Before and after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea
- Before and after treating a cut or wound
- After using the toilet
- After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
- After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
- After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste
- After handling pet food or pet treats
- After touching garbage
If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to clean your hands.
Proper Handwashing Technique
Follow Five handwashing technique to Wash Your Hands the Right Way
Washing your hands is easy, and it’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs. Clean hands can help stop germs from spreading from one person to another and in our communities—including your home, workplace, schools, and childcare facilities.
Follow these five steps every time for handwashing.
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
- Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
- Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or an air dryer
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