The importance of Global Hand Washing Day 2020

Global Hand Washing Day is an international hand washing promotional campaign that is marked on 15th October every year. The day is intended at motivating and mobilizing people all around the world to improve their hand washing habits. It puts emphasis on increasing awareness about the vital role washing hands with soap plays in preventing the spread of viruses and illnesses.

The day was first celebrated in the year 2008 by the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) in order to promote a global and local vision of hand washing with soap. The three primary aims of celebrating global hand washing day are:

This year the respective day will be themed “Hand Hygiene for All” amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It is aimed at highlighting the vital role of hand washing with soap and water to prevent the spread of virus during these critical times. Experts from the pharma industry in India suggest that all the governments, businesses, institutions, and individuals should make hand washing a priority today for beating the virus and ensuring a better tomorrow.

Why hand washing is important during this COVID-19 pandemic?

The novel strain of coronavirus has created havoc all around the globe. It has leveraged people to get back to basics and take necessary precautions in order to stay safe from the deadly COVID-19 disease. As per the safety guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), people should wash and clean their hands regularly and thoroughly using soap and water. This will kill the virus that may have caught your hands from infected surfaces or people.

How to wash your hands properly?

Hand washing can not only safeguard you from COVID-19 but also from various other bacterial and viral infections. However, it is important that you wash your hands properly irrespective of the time and place. Here is a 5-step guide furnished by Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to wash your hands the right way:

In case soap and water are not available, you should use an alcohol-based sanitizer for disinfecting your hands. However, various studies allegedly claim that sanitizers may not get rid of all types of germs. Thus, you should clean your hands with soap and water whenever possible.