Infectious Disease Blog

Did you know there was a right way to wash your hands? Many people are doing this simple task the wrong way. Watch my video to see the proper way to wash your hands. 

Proper hand-washing techniques came from the Mayo Clinic.   

Anyone who watched the hit children’s show “Sesame Street” while growing up may remember some of the helpful songs that taught us a thing or two:

“What do we do before we eat? We wash our hands and we wash our feet.”

Hand washing not only clears our hands of the grime and germs that we come across, but it also helps to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

One community in Nigeria has seen a drop in cases of diarrhea due to efforts teaching the importance of hygiene and regular hand washing, according to magazine The East African.

About 1.5 million children worldwide die from inadequate water and poor sanitation and hygiene each year, the article said. Also, about 42,000 people die each week from the diseases related to low water quality.

Learning the importance of hand washing would yield a large impact for Nigeria, according to the article:

“Over 10 million productive days would be gained (in Nigeria) if access to both water and sanitation rose to 100 percent,” UNICEF country representative for Nigeria, Ayalew Abai, said recently.

Diarrhea remains one of the main causes of child mortality, “yet it is so simple to avoid it by washing hands before eating,” UNICEF spokesperson in Abuja, Christine Jaulmes, noted.

National health organizations stress the importance of hand washing in preventing the outbreak of infectious diseases.

The CDC runs a campaign to promote hygiene and hand washing called An Ounce of Prevention. The Mayo Clinic also discusses the dangers of not washing hands and provides tips for how to properly wash.