Keeping your hands clean may seem a simple and sometimes unimportant task, but this task is perhaps one of the most important things human beings can do throughout their lifetime to help protect their well-being.
This is in light of the fact that keeping your hands clean, either by washing thoroughly with soap and water or by sanitising with an alcohol based sanitizer, can help to prevent the effect of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Moreover, the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO] Guyana office is today urging that each Guyanese embrace a hand-washing tradition in order to safeguard their health.
World Hand Hygiene Day takes place annually on May 5. The day is declared by the World Health Organization [WHO] and encourages patients and their family members to join health workers in their efforts to practice good hand hygiene. According to WHO, every year, hundreds of millions of patients around the world are affected by health care-associated infections. More than half of these infections could be prevented by caregivers properly cleaning their hands at key moments in patient care.
Hand hygiene is the act of cleaning one’s hands for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and/or microorganisms. Medical hand hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices related to the administration of medicine and medical care that prevents or minimizes disease and the spreading of disease. The main medical purpose of washing hands is to cleanse the hands of pathogens [including bacteria or viruses] and chemicals which can cause personal harm or disease.
Hand hygiene is especially important for people who handle food or work in the medical field, but it is also an important practice for the general public. People can become infected with respiratory illnesses such as influenza or the common cold, for example, if they don’t wash their hands before touching their eyes, nose, or mouth.