Hand washing and hygiene

Hand washing and hygiene are important in preventing the transmission of germs that cause various diseases. Your hands can easily get dirty and spread germs from you to other people. Thus, it is important that you wash your hands frequently and are careful of what you touch. You can simply wash your hands with soap and clean water, antiseptic hand washes or by using alcohol-based sanitizers.

You should wash your hands before and after cooking, after using the toilet, before eating a meal, touching animals, coughing or sneezing, cleaning your house or doing any activity that soil your hands.

The following are the benefits of proper hand hygiene:

• Keeps you healthy: keeping your hands clean prevents you from spreading germs to the rest of your body. Germs can easily spread to your eyes, mouth and nose because of how often you touch them with your hands.
• Prevents spread of diseases: hand and body hygiene reduces the spread of disease from one person to another. Germs can easily be spread through shaking hands and hugging.
• Keeps children healthy: children love to play in the sand and put their hands in their mouths. Therefore, it is important to teach them how to wash their hands properly.
• Prevents the resistance of drugs that treat bacterial infections: since hand hygiene prevents infections, the use of antibiotics reduces as well as antibacterial resistance.

To wash your hands properly, you need running water, soap or alcohol-based sanitiser, and 20 to 30 seconds of your time. This is the step-by-step guide to proper handwashing:

Using soap or hand wash

• Wet your hands with clean running water.
• Close the tap and put soap in your hands and rub them till a lather (soap bubbles) forms.
• Rub your palms, then wash your fingers including your thumb. Do this several times. Make sure that you wash every part of both hands.
• Rinse your hands till all soap bubbles are gone.
• Dry your hands with a clean towel. If there is no clean towel or paper, air-dry your hands.

Using alcohol-based sanitiser

• Apply the sanitiser on the palm of one hand.
• Rub both hands together and make sure that you cover your whole hands including your fingers.
• Do this for about 20 seconds until the sanitiser dries.

Hand washing and hygiene are a very easy ways to keep your hands clean and prevent the spread of germs. If you are cannot use clean water and soap then use a hand sanitiser. Keep your fingernails short to prevent them from harbouring germs. Don't let children play in dirty places and teach them to wash their hands properly after using the toilet and before every meal.