How important is good hand washing?

by time news

2023-10-29 19:00:46

Having clean hands is one of the most important measures to avoid getting sick and transmitting germs to other people. Many conditions and diseases are spread by not carrying out a good hand washing with clean running water and soap. Below we explain its importance and how to do it.

This is how microbes get to your hands

Las human or animal feces They are an important source of microbes that cause diarrhea and can spread, in turn, some respiratory infections. These types of germs get on the hands after a person uses the bathroom or changes a diaper, but also after handling raw meats that contain invisible amounts of animal poop.

Handwashing prevents illness and spread of infection

Wash your hands with soap eliminates microbes of the hands and this helps prevent infections for the following reasons:

People often touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without realizing it. Microbes can enter the body through these places on our body and make us sick. Germs on unwashed hands can get on foods and drinks when people prepare or consume them. Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects and transferred to other people’s hands. Removing germs by washing your hands helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections.

How to teach handwashing

To educate about handwashing, information could be given on the following figures:

Reduces the number of people who get sick and have diarrhea by 23-40%. Reduces diarrheal disease in people with weakened immune systems by 58%. It also reduces respiratory illnesses such as colds by 16-21% in the general population. Reduces absenteeism caused by gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29-57%.

Fight the rise in antibiotic resistance

Preventing cases of illness, in turn, reduces the amount of antibiotics people use and the likelihood that it will develop. resistance to these drugs. Hand washing can prevent around 30% of diarrhea-related illnesses and around 20% of respiratory infections.

Antibiotics are often prescribed unnecessarily for these health problemsso reducing the number of these infections with hand hygiene prevents the excessive use of these antibiotics.

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