Global Handwashing Day facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Global Handwashing Day |
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Emblem used for Global Handwashing Day around the world. Shown in the image are water, soap, and hand.
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| Celebrations | "Our hands, our future!" |
| Date | 15 October |
| Next time | 15 October 2025 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| First time | 15 October 2008 |
| Related to | Menstrual hygiene day |
Global Handwashing Day (GHD) is a special day each year. It is an international campaign to encourage people everywhere to wash their hands. The goal is to help everyone improve their hand washing habits. It's super important to wash hands with soap at key times during the day. This helps stop the spread of germs. Global Handwashing Day was first celebrated on October 15, 2008.
This day helps people around the world understand why washing hands with soap is so important. It helps prevent many diseases and infections. In 2008, over 120 million children in 70 countries learned about handwashing with soap. Since then, more and more people, governments, schools, and groups have supported this important day.
Global Handwashing Day happens every year on October 15. This worldwide campaign aims to make everyone aware. Washing hands with soap is a key way to prevent sickness. When you wash your hands properly, you can reduce breathing illnesses and stomach problems by 25–50%.
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Why We Celebrate Global Handwashing Day
The Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) started Global Handwashing Day in 2008. This group wanted to promote handwashing with soap around the world. They believed it was important for everyone's health.
The GHP works with many different organizations. These include companies like Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble. It also includes groups like UNICEF and the World Bank. They all work together to spread the message about clean hands.
Main Goals of Global Handwashing Day
The main goals of Global Handwashing Day are:
- To help everyone make handwashing with soap a regular habit.
- To show how important handwashing is in every country.
- To teach people about all the good things that come from washing hands with soap.
Activities and Events
Each year, more than 200 million people celebrate Global Handwashing Day. Many events happen around the world to teach people about handwashing.
Examples of Celebrations
- On October 15, 2014, a state in India called Madhya Pradesh set a Guinness World Record. They had the biggest handwashing program ever. Over 1.2 million children in 51 different areas took part.
- Sometimes, groups celebrate GHD on a different day than October 15. For example, in Ethiopia, 300 people celebrated on November 1, 2013.
- On October 15, 2015, students at Lupok Central Elementary School in the Philippines celebrated. They practiced proper handwashing before their classes started.
History of Global Handwashing Day
The Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) first suggested Global Handwashing Day in August 2008. This happened at a meeting called World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. The United Nations General Assembly then officially set the date. So, the first Global Handwashing Day was on October 15, 2008. That year, 2008, was also the International Year of Sanitation.
Many important groups helped start this day. These included FHI360, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Procter & Gamble, UNICEF, Unilever, and the World Bank Water & Sanitation Program.
Yearly Themes for Global Handwashing Day
Each year, Global Handwashing Day has a special theme. This theme helps focus the message.
- 2022 - Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene
- 2021 - Our Future Is at Hand – Let's Move Forward Together.
- 2020 - Hand Hygiene for All.
- 2019 - Clean Hands for All. In the US, the CDC used the theme "Life is Better with Clean Hands." They taught parents and caregivers about washing hands before cooking and after using the bathroom.
- 2018 - Clean hands - a recipe for health.
- 2017 - Our hands, our future.
- 2016 - Make handwashing a habit.
- 2015 - Raise a hand for hygiene.
- 2014 - Clean hands save lives. This year, the day helped fight Ebola in some places.
- 2013 - The power is in your hands.
- 2012 - I am a handwashing advocate.
- 2011 - Clean hands save lives.
- 2010 - Children and Schools.
- 2009 - Spread the word, not the germs.
- 2008 - The first year focused on school children. Over 100 million schoolchildren in more than 70 countries learned about handwashing. In India, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar joined kids to promote handwashing.
Why Handwashing is So Important
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The campaign started to help lower the number of children who get sick. It aims to reduce breathing and diarrhea illnesses. Simple changes, like washing hands with soap, can make a big difference. This simple action can lower the death rate from breathing illnesses by 25%. Deaths from diarrhea can be cut by 50%.
Many health workers around the world do not wash their hands properly. In US hospitals, about one in 25 patients gets an infection that they caught in the hospital. This shows how important hand hygiene is for everyone.
Benefits of Washing Hands with Soap
Handwashing with soap is a very effective way to prevent diseases. It is also not expensive. It helps stop illnesses like diarrhea and serious breathing infections. Pneumonia, a type of breathing infection, is a top cause of death for children under five. About 1.8 million children die from it each year. Together, diarrhea and pneumonia cause almost 3.5 million child deaths every year. Studies show that washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhea by 30%. It can also reduce breathing infections by 21% in young children.
Washing hands regularly with soap is key for good health and hygiene. It greatly lowers the risk of getting certain diseases. It can even be more effective than some medical treatments. It cuts diarrhea-related deaths by almost half. It also reduces deaths from serious breathing infections by a quarter. Handwashing is often part of bigger WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) programs.
Global Handwashing Day helps spread awareness about the benefits of handwashing. It especially focuses on how important it is for children. It uses fun activities to teach them. Good hygiene depends on knowing about handwashing and making it a regular habit.
Friends can also encourage each other to wash their hands. For example, a study in Kenya showed that students were more likely to wash their hands when their friends were around. This works best when friends agree that handwashing is a good thing to do.
Other Hand Hygiene Days
The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates a World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5. In 2018, its theme was preventing serious infections in healthcare. The year before, it focused on fighting antibiotic resistance.
Working Together Globally
- Peace Corps volunteers from the US have helped celebrate Global Handwashing Day.
- Global Handwashing Day supports the 2013 Water for the World Act. This act aims to make US foreign aid for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) more effective. It helps make sure money goes to the people who need WASH help the most.
See also
- behaviour change (public health)
- Biological hazard
- Infection control
- Hygiene
- Menstrual Hygiene Day
- Sanitation
- World Toilet Day
