Wash your hands, act small to save many lives

Many studies have shown that an unclean hand may contain millions of bacteria and many pathogens, but many people forget how to prevent disease simply by washing their hands with soap.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the media campaign Journey of 10 million clean hands and the prevention of seasonal epidemics taking place in Hanoi on May 15, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien emphasized communication activities. aiming at changing people's hand washing behavior with soap.

According to the Minister, washing hands with soap, a job seems to be very simple, anyone can do it and do it regularly but in fact this rate is very low, even in health facilities. . The most recent survey by the Ministry of Health shows that only 23% of people wash their hands before eating and 36% wash their hands after going to the toilet.

In fact very few people wash their hands properly.

In fact very few people wash their hands properly. Many people wash their hands often but do not have bactericidal effects because they only wash with water. Some people wash their hands with soap but ignore the discreet areas on their hands like fingers, fingertips, and thumbs.

Proper hand washing with soap is an effective , easy-to-implement, less expensive way to prevent disease . Many studies have shown that "unclean" hands can contain millions of bacteria and many pathogens. An unclean hand is a risk of numerous diseases. Up to 50% of contagious diseases such as flu, diarrhea, hand, foot and mouth disease . are caused by improper body hygiene.

According to the World Health Organization, washing hands with soap saves more lives than any vaccine, reducing respiratory infections by 19-45%. In Vietnam, statistics of the Ministry of Health show that among the 10 26 infectious diseases with the highest incidence, about half are gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. These diseases are related to clean water, sanitation and personal behavior. In particular, hand washing with soap plays a huge role in disease prevention.

Regular hand washing with soap can reduce the risk of gastrointestinal diseases by 47% and more than 30% of acute respiratory infections. Besides, if the babysitter washes his hands before and after preparing baby food, the rate of underweight malnutrition will decrease by 1-10%.