5 reasons why hand washing can spare your life
Basic activities, for example, hand washing can spare lives! Discover why this article.
Today the world's natives care about Global Handwashing Day, which is commemorated annually on October 15th. The habit of washing hands was never bored for years, such as the habit of washing hands from an early age. How not, though handwashing is a simple act, this habit has so great benefits that it can save lives.
Actually, the focus is not only children but also all ages. Various germs that can threaten health can be transmitted by touch. Moreover, you also can not ensure that the surfaces of various objects that are often touched free from germs. For that, the best shield of germ attack is by often washing hands with soap and running water.
Must be as often as you need to wash your hands?
Here are the crucial moments for you should wash your hands immediately:
> Before, during, and after processing food
> Before meals
> Before and after keeping people sick
> Before and after treating wounds
> After using the toilet
> After changing the diaper or cleaning the finished child from the toilet
> After wasting cough, or colds
> After touching animals, animal food, or animal dung
> After touching trash
Various reasons why washing your hands is important
Hand washing is mentioned as the first rank in the top ten discoveries in the field of disease prevention in the community. The following five reasons will show how important hand washing actions can be, to save your lives and those around:
1. Preventing the inclusion of germs into the body
When the hand touches the surface of an object containing germs, germs can enter the body accidentally. Without realizing it, you often touch your eyes, nose, and mouth. Dirty hands can move germs through the "access".
The germs that enter the eye organ can cause complaints in the eyes such as red eyes, shaded, sore, or blurred vision. If you get into the nose, a respiratory infection that symptoms are cold, cough, and sore throat. The type of airways infection that can spread through the touch such as completion (caused by adenovirus) and the Singapore flu is also known as hand, foot, and mouth disease. When people cough or sneezing without being closed, germs can stick to various surfaces and move to others.
The mouth can also be the entrance of germs that can attack the digestive tract with symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting. Generally, this happens as a result of not cleaning the hand before eating, especially after using the toilet. The human stool is a source of various germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, and norovirus which can all cause diarrhea. It is important to know, in 1 gram of human stool may contain 1 trillion germs.
2. Proven to reduce incidents of serious illness
Handwashing habits proved to be potent in reducing the incidence of diseases such as respiratory infections, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and eyes. Based on research, community handwashing Education will lower the incidence of the disease:
> Diarrhea up to 23-40 percent
> Diarrhea in people with low immunity up to 58 percent
> Respiratory diseases in the general population up to 16-21 percent
3. Improving the health level of children
Approximately 1.8 million children under 5 years of age suffer from deaths every year from diarrhea and pneumonia (pneumonia). This condition mainly occurs in areas with difficult clean water access.
Washing hands with soap can protect 1 out of 3 small children who are experiencing diarrhea, as well as 1 in 5 small children who have respiratory infections such as pneumonia. Hand washing is also known to reduce the number of children's absence in school. Education of hand-washing with soap can lower the school's absence from digestive diseases up to 29-57 percent.
4. Preventing nosocomial infections
This is an important point for healthcare providers, ranging from doctors, midwives, nurses, and other healthcare workers.
Nosocomial infection is an infectious disease obtained during hospital treatment. Often this occurs in patients with severe conditions, such as patients who are hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
In order not to spread other germs to patients lying in the ICU, health personnel should be able to keep their hands clean with a hand wash routine. This also applies to the family of accompanying patients who are being hospitalized. If not, additional infections in the patient being treated can weigh the patient's condition and risk extending the treatment period.
Nosocomial infections are estimated to occur in 16 million patients annually. Based on data from the World Health Agency (WHO) in middle and low-income countries, the frequency of ICU-related infections is at least 2-3 times higher compared to high-income countries.
5. Lowering antibiotic resistance numbers
When infectious diseases can be prevented, the amount of antibiotic use will decrease. Thus, the risk of development of antibiotic resistance will be reduced, especially considering the use of antibiotics in Indonesia is often not appropriate. It often happens that antibiotics are used for mild diseases that can actually heal by themselves (caused by viruses). This wrong use can cause bacteria to be "accustomed" to antibiotics so that the effect of resistance decreases.
Also, because antibiotic access is sometimes easily obtained without a doctor's prescription, it can lead to improper use of antibiotics. Or when antibiotic consumption is not complete, the risk of antibiotic resistance is increasingly higher.
When antibiotic resistance occurs, this can complicate the treatment of disease and the possibility of a loss of life. Therefore, the termination of "demon circles" occurrence of antibiotic resistance can be prevented by preventing yourself from contracting the infectious disease by diligent hand washing. Easy, isn't it?
Washing hands regularly, especially before and after doing certain activities, is one of the best ways to repel germs from the hands. That way, the body will also avoid illness and stay healthy. Let's break the ropes of spreading germs and prevent them from infecting those around you. You also indirectly contribute to saving lives, and this is one of the spirits of the world's handwashing day!