The United Nations General Assembly has designated the 2008 the International
Year of Sanitation and Global Handwashing Day will echo and reinforce its call for improved hygiene practices.
The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda. This year is the first-ever Global Handwashing Day to be celebrated.
The announcement of Global Handwashing Day was also made at the annual
World Water Week 2008, which was held in Stockholm from August 17 to 23 August 2008.
Thus the purpose of the Global handwashing day is to mobilise communities, households, schools, and workplaces to wash hands with soaps to curb life
threatening diseases. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) each year 1.5 million children under the age of five years die from diarrhoeal-related diseases. An estimated 88% of these deaths are due to poor hygiene and lack of access to sanitation. More handwashing with soap would make a significant contribution to meeting Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths among children under the age of five by two-thirds by 2015.
The global handwashing with soap campaign acknowledges that by raising
awareness amongst children the figures could be reduced dramatically since children are ideally situated at the intersection of the home, school and community, and they can be powerful agents of behavioural change.
The primary targets for Global Handwashing Day is members of the general
public; political decision makers, journalists, education officials and school children.
The Global Handwashing Day is an initiative of the Global Public-Private Partnership for hand washing with soap.
The initiative is designed to:
introduce the idea of a Global Handwashing Day and begin the process of yearly commemoration
shine the spotlight on the stage of handwashing
raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap
More
Preparations are underway and during the initial meeting with the private sector there was an indication that they are were keen to participate in the official launch by the tow sister Departments. On the morning of the 15 October 2008 an open bus with all the hygiene messages, will be stationed outside Sedibeng Building.
The Directors-General of Water Affairs and Forestry and Health will address the media and demonstrate the proper washing of hands with soap to launch the handwashing day in South Africa. Media will be invited to this occasion so that the event could be reported to the public as another way of broadening awareness. The bus will then visit nearby schools around Pretoria to further raise awareness. DWAF and Health Provincial offices are also encouraged to plan for this day to mark its launch. They are encouraged to work together with the 2020 Vision programme to raise awareness in schools. Big balloons will fly over at the entrances of the regional offices of the Department with a Global Handwashing Day Logo.
For more information go to: www.globalhandwashing.org.
Background
