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Global Handwashing Day
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It saves lives. Just the simple act of washing one’s hands with soap is preventative medicine. The United Nations is encouraging children and reminding adults about this health measure. Today is the first Global Handwashing Day:
“…The UN wants to send the message that this simple exercise is one of the most effective ways of preventing diseases responsible for the deaths of 3.5 million children each year.
The United Nations says that hand washing with soap could halve the number of deaths.”
link: Global Handwashing Day for S Asia kids
So, when you push away from that keyboard, go wash your hands. Studies have found that the one place in the home or office that has the most germs is the computer keyboard.
Catherine Forsythe
5 Comments
Joel
October 16th, 2008
at 9:33am
Calling Dr. Semmelweis!
forsythe
October 16th, 2008
at 10:23am
You are so right, Joel! A tip of the hat to you for remembering…
Catherine
Robert Kelly
October 16th, 2008
at 12:16pm
Several years ago, a soap company (I think Colgate but not sure) did a test in Africa. In some poor villages where people could not afford to *buy* soap, they gave out free soap to some of the families. NO special do’s or don’ts - just all the free soap they wanted. After a year or so the deaths of very young children was down by something huge like 30 or 40 percent in the “soap” families. So washing really, really matters. Note: the test was really about anti-bacterial soap. Some families got regular, some anti-bacterial. There was *zero* difference in the death rates between soaps.
leftystrat
October 16th, 2008
at 10:12pm
Yeah, sure, saving that many lives is all well and good, but then what do you have? Billions of people washing their hands all day. Pretty soon they’re getting nervous if they’re not near soap so they carry waterless soap with them.
So tell me, what’s worse: germs or OCD?
:)
The Cold Virus and Your Mom Was Right ~ DogReader
November 22nd, 2008
at 6:29pm
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