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Don’t under-estimate the power of handwashing with soap, says WaterAid. It has the power to reduce pressure on healthcare systems, prevent diseases including future pandemics, eliminate costs and save lives across the world.
Handwashing with soap is one of the most cost-effective ways for people – whether at home, at work, in school or healthcare facilities– to keep themselves and their loved ones safe by preventing and controlling infectious epidemics, diseases and superbugs.
How does handwashing save lives and money?
- Handwashing with soap can reduce the risk of diarrheal disease among children under 5 years old by 30%[[i]]
- with every $1 spent on hygiene, saving $15 on healthcare;[[ii]]
- delivering hand hygiene at home for everyone everywhere could generate a net benefit of $45bn per year;[[iii]]
- Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene, including delivering hygiene plans, can generate huge economic savings – providing up to 21 times more value than it costs.[[iv]]
What do the statistics show?
- Currently, almost 2 billion people in the world – one in four – lack basic hygiene facilities at home – that’s a handwashing facility with both soap and water;[[v]]
- 653 million people in the world don’t have a place to wash their hands at home;[[vi]]
- Only half of healthcare facilities globally have a place for handwashing either near or in the toilets or where care is provided;[[vii]]
- Globally, 43% of schools do not have soap and water for handwashing and 480 million children worldwide go to schools that have no handwashing facilities, or if they do, they aren’t functioning properly;[[viii]]
- Worldwide, 384,000 diarrhoea deaths are caused annually by inadequate hand hygiene; most are in Africa and South-East Asia; [[ix]]
- Interventions promoting handwashing with soap reduce acute respiratory infections by 17%. [[x]]
What’s the solution?
Clean water gives hope and clean hands are within reach. But it is only with collaboration and commitment that these goals can be met.
As the world celebrates Global Handwashing Day, WaterAid is calling on donors and governments to commit the necessary finance and steps to reach our goal for everyone, everywhere to have soap and water for handwashing at home. This includes:
- putting in place national hand hygiene strategies;
- increasing funding for hand hygiene programmes;
- designing and implementing effective hand hygiene behaviour change programming at scale and;
- tracking hygiene spending across sectors.
For this to be achieved by 2030 – the year by which world leaders have promised to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene for all – current rates of progress will need to triple.[[xi]]
Ensuring hygiene is integral to any development agenda, including efforts to respond to COVID-19 and prevent future pandemics – will save lives across the world by making sure handwashing becomes part of daily life for everyone.
Dr Om Prasad Gautam, Senior Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Manager at WaterAid, said:
“Without clean hands, lives across the world are at stake and that is why we must invest now in handwashing globally.
“We have seen how interconnected the world is when it comes to the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Diseases and viruses are spreading at high-speed, with no consideration for borders.
“As the world celebrates Global Handwashing Day, WaterAid is calling on donors and governments to commit the necessary finance so people at home and abroad can stay healthy and keep working, protect local health services and communities can thrive.”
Case studies
Matilde Romao, mother and patient, Napacala, Mozambqiue.
Matilde has lived in Napacala her whole life. She gave birth to her baby in Napacala Health Centre in May 2022.
“I bring my new baby here every month for his vaccinations. But I have had three children that have died. We’ve now given a name to my son which means ‘leave the baby with us this time’.
“If I could change anything about the health centre, I would change the toilets. They are not good. They are dirty.
“We were washing Our hands often because of coronavirus but nowadays we don’t wash regularly because we [don’t] have a lot of water, even at home. Water is a real problem here. We have only one small well for many, many people.
“We want to change our life. I would like to have more babies. I would like to have better conditions in hospital in the future.”
Full story: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/water-means-life
Asma, a 10-year-old girl living in Gul Muhammad Gadhi, District Dadu, Sindh, Pakistan
Asma shared her experiences and emotions during the flood of 2022 and the subsequent efforts made by WaterAid Pakistan and its implementing Partner to repair and renovate the WASH facilities in her school.
“During the flood of 2022, our school’s latrines were severely damaged and became unusable. This made me and my fellow female classmates reluctant to attend school.
“The school remained closed for months due to the flood, and even after it reopened, we faced challenges. We lacked potable water. It felt like we were losing precious time from our education and missing out on the joys of being in school.
*“But then, **WaterAid *came forward to support us during this difficult time. They repaired the latrines and installed a wash basin with an adequate water supply for the washrooms. Finally, we had proper facilities to use at school.
“Since then, hand washing has become a habit for us schoolchildren, not only at school but also at home. We have regained our enthusiasm for learning and attending school. We are grateful for the support we have received and look forward to a brighter future.”
Ends.
For more information, please contact:
Emma Sutton-Smith, News Manager, on +44 (0)7588 305 443,
emmasutton-smtih@wateraid.org. Our after-hours press line on +44 (0)7887 521 552, or email
pressoffice@wateraid.org.
Notes to editors
WaterAid
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 22 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and 29 million people with decent toilets.
For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk, follow us on Twitter @WaterAidPress, @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid, or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.
[i] Wolf J, et al. (2022). Effectiveness of interventions to improve drinking water, sanitation, and handwashing with soap on risk of diarrhoeal disease in children in low-income and middle-income settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. Vol 400 (10345), pp 4859. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35780792/ (accessed 10 Oct 2023).
[ii] UNICEF/WHO (2021). State of the World’s Hand Hygiene: A global call to action to make hand hygiene a priority in policy and practice. Available at: who.int/publications/i/item/9789240036444 (accessed 26 Sep 2023).
[iii] WaterAid. (2021) Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery. Available at: https://washmatters.wateraid.org/publications/mission-critical-invest-water-sanitation-hygiene-healthy-green-recovery#:~:text=The%20resulting%20report%2C%20Mission%2Dcritical,net%20benefits%20of%20%2486%20billion (accessed 11 Oct 2023).
[iv] WaterAid. (2021) Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery. Available at: https://washmatters.wateraid.org/publications/mission-critical-invest-water-sanitation-hygiene-healthy-green-recovery#:~:text=The%20resulting%20report%2C%20Mission%2Dcritical,net%20benefits%20of%20%2486%20billion (accessed 11 Oct 2023).
[v] WHO/UNICEF (2023). Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender. Available at: washdata.org/reports/jmp-2023-wash-households-launch (accessed 10 Oct 2023).
[vi] WHO/UNICEF (2023). Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender. Available at: washdata.org/reports/jmp-2023-wash-households-launch (accessed 10 Oct 2023).
[vii] WHO (2023). Progress on WASH in health care facilities 2000–2021: special focus on WASH and infection prevention and control. Available at: who.int/publications/i/item/9789240058699 (accessed 10 Oct 2023).
[viii] WHO/UNICEF (2022). Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools: 2000-2021 data update. Available at: washdata.org/reports/jmp-2022-wins (accessed on 11 Oct 2023).
[ix] WHO (2023). Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update. Available at: who.int/publications/i/item/9789240075610 (accessed 11 Oct 2023).
[x] WHO (2023). Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update. Available at: who.int/publications/i/item/9789240075610 (accessed 11 Oct 2023).
[xi] Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022. World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2023. https://washdata.org/reports/jmp-2023-wash-households
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