Improved Access to Hygiene is Critical for New Development Agenda – UNICEF

The eighth Global Handwashing Day comes less than a month after the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, including hygiene for the first time in the global agenda. One of the SDG targets is to achieve 'access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene' by 2030.

"Along with drinking water and access to toilets, hygiene – particularly handwashing with soap – is the essential third leg of the stool holding up the Goal on water and sanitation," said Sanjay Wijesekera, global head of UNICEF's water, sanitation and hygiene programmes. "From birth – when unwashed hands of birth attendants can transmit dangerous pathogens – right through babyhood, school and beyond, handwashing is crucial for a child's health. It is one of the cheapest, simplest, most effective health interventions we have."

In Viet Nam, a lower middle income country, access to water and soap for handwashing has risen to 86 per cent across the county, in the last 20 years, which has contributed to reduced rates of childhood deaths from preventable diseases. However, when it comes to the poor households, access to handwashing facilities, water and soap drops to just over 65 per cent. Handwashing events were held in Hanoi, the nation's capital and in Ninh Thuan and Gia Lai provinces, where large population of ethnic minority communities and poor households reside. More than 8000 children attended these events to promote handwashing to their families and communities.

"Simple behaviours like hand washing with soap, using and maintaining clean latrines can reduce diarrhoea in children by 43 per cent in Viet Nam," said Friday Nwaigwe, UNICEF Viet Nam's Head of Child Survival and Development. "Handwashing needs to happen 365 days a year, before every meal and after every trip to the bathroom", he said to a crowd of children at an event in Ninh Thuan province.

Meanwhile, according to the UN's latest estimates, over 800 of the approximately 1,400 child deaths from diarrhoea each day can be attributed to inadequate water, sanitation or hygiene. Infants in the first month of life are particularly vulnerable to diseases transmitted by unwashed hands.

A number of activities around the world mark Global Handwashing Day and aim to teach the importance of handwashing with soap especially to children.

• Democratic Republic of the Congo: A national drawing competition on handwashing in schools will reach 300,000 students in 1,500 schools; and messages will reach 3,000,000 people in 5,500 villages.
• Haiti: A soccer match (Clean Hands vs. Dirty Hands) is planned, as well as a parade, community radio spots, songs, poems, a drawing competition and handwashing demonstrations in public places.
• Kiribati: All 94 Primary Schools, 24 Junior Secondary Schools and 16 Senior Secondary Schools will take part in group hand washing. Students will design posters and banners, and promote handwashing in marches, song, dancing, drama, speech, poems and art.
• Sri Lanka: The Government of Sri Lanka is hosting a week-long learning exchange among schools to establish best practice for programmes across Asia and the Pacific. UNICEF Ambassador for South Asia, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, will be involved in promoting the importance of handwashing.
• Viet Nam: 8,000 children participated in events across the country aimed at encouraging their families to practice handwashing with soap.

# # #

About Global Handwashing Day:

Global Handwashing Day is celebrated on October 15. The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap initiated Global Handwashing Day in 2008, and it is endorsed by governments, international institutions, civil society organisations, NGOs, private companies and individuals around the globe. Visit http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/ 

About UNICEF:

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: http://www.unicef.org/ and www.unicef.org/vietnam

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

For further information, including interviews or a detailed list of activities globally, please contact:

• Rita Ann Wallace, UNICEF New York, Tel: +1.212.326.7586, Mobile: +1.917.213.4034, rwallace@unicef.org
• Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hương, UNICEF Viet Nam, Tel: +84.4. 38500.225, Mobile: +84.904.154.678; ntthuong@unicef.org