INDIA HYGIENE AWARENESS

Hand washing with handwash is one the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrhoea diseases and respiratory infections which together are responsible for majority of child deaths. Every year more than 3. 5 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhoea and pneumonia. Available UN information indicates that, Hand-washing with soap at critical times can reduce the incidence of diarrhoea by up to 47 per cent. In the wake of Global Handwashing Day, the Hygiene Council has released more findings from its international HABIT Study (Hygiene: Attitudes, Behavior, Insight and Traits). Below are charts comparing handwashing and household hygiene scores for 12 countries. Percentage of respondents who wash hands 5+ times daily

Percentage with High Household Hygiene Score

The research study sought to characterize the key determinants of personal and household hygiene behaviours that affect health cross-culturally; to pinpoint the key factors in different personalities and settings that determine hygiene behaviour, and highlight those that can be modified to improve health. The study was conducted from January to March 2011 by the Hygiene Council, an initiative sponsored by household, health and personal care producer Reckitt Benckiser.

On World Health Organizations recommendation, hospitals around the globe observed World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5th, 2012 while the rest of us would observe a day called World Handwashing Day on 15th October. The difference is of limes and lemons as elucidated in the scenario above. Washing hands is a key health habit that is rampantly absent in developing countries like India, that observe lower standards of hygiene (as much as Indians may take offense to it), which is responsible for the quick spread of infections and perhaps, the longevity of diseases in the country. And while you may think that maintaining hand hygiene would be a routine practice for medical health professionals, many studies have shown that compliance is universally low, especially in lower and middle income countries. According to the WHO, infections caused by unsanitized hands put newborns as a high-risk population in developing countries while neonatal infection rates are three to 20 times higher than in industrialized countries. Transient microorganisms that colonize the superficial layers of the skin do not usually multiply on the skin and can be removed by routine hand hygiene. According to the literature review by Purva Mathur (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) published in Indian Journal of Medicine in November 2011, they are often acquired by health care workers during direct contact with patients or their nearby contaminated environmental surfaces and are most commonly associated with health care associated infections. In a study conducted on hand hygiene among health care workers by Mani A., Shubhangi AM and Saini R. in 2010, about 75 percent of health infrastructure, medical manpower and other health resources was found to be concentrated in urban areas, where only 27 per cent of the population lives. Moreover, personal hygiene and sanitation is better maintained in urban centers as reflected by the Economic Times article, which indicated that the sale of liquid soaps and hand sanitisers have grown by around 20 to 30 per cent, while the demand for tissues has grown at a phenomenal rate of over 40 per cent in the last three years or so (although India continues to be one of the lowest tissue consuming countries). Hence, for the remaining 33 percent, hand hygiene is touted to be a very aspirational standard because of the absence of hospitals, resources or proper medical staff itself for kilometers in a village district. According to them, the status quo given below are the reasons for health care acquired infections in India. But these valid reasons that account for the reality in India are not enough to fully explain why hand hygiene is still not as rampantly observed till now. A study conducted in 2009 by the Global Hygiene Council and Dettol revealed that only 42% of Indians felt that hand washing to be an effective way to prevent the spread of flu and viruses, 29% of people in India did not wash their hands properly after coughing or sneezing and nearly 3 in 5 (59%) parents admitted that their children may not be washing their hands properly in between

meal snacking. Hand hygiene is probably the most basic of hygiene lessons we learn early in life but is not reinforced by our surroundings enough so much so that we gradually relax the rules on a few exceptional situations only to make a regular habit out of them. Dr. Simple Kasana of Safdarjung Hospital & VMCC in New Delhi wrote in Clean India Journal about the barriers due to which the compliance to hand washing in most hospitals is generally less than 50%. The leading factor for non-compliance is time constraint. Other reasons reported by healthcare workers for the lack of adherence to hand hygiene recommendations include: skin irritation by hand hygiene agents, inaccessibility of hand hygiene supplies, interference with healthcare workers-patient relationship, patient needs perceived as a priority, wearing of gloves, forgetfulness, the lack of knowledge of guidelines, insufficient time for hand hygiene, high workload and understaffing, and the lack of scientific information showing a definitive impact of improved hand hygiene on hospital-acquired infection rates. But, above all,its lack of awareness about the importance of hand hygiene which appears to be a mundane procedure to most of healthcare workers, including doctors. Just as medical providers and professionals must take responsibility to the point that they can be held accountable for not washing their hands between patient observations, treatments and surgeries, its important for all of us to take charge of our own health and keep ourselves away from risk in washing hands before eating, shaking hands, cooking, feeding children and tending to infants.

The thorough steps to washing your hands

My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene approach in the programme SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, an initiative that aims to ensure an ongoing global, regional, national and local focus on hand hygiene in healthcare. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Before touching a patient, Before clean/aseptic procedures, After body fluid exposure/risk, After touching a patient and After touching patient surroundings.