BoardBuzz knows that we all wash our hands for obvious reasons; certainly, to be clean. But handwashing is also key to disease prevention practices in many settings including schools, and all it takes is soap, warm water, and singing “Happy Birthday,” twice
With all the advances in medicine, it is sometimes difficult to imagine that something as simple as washing hands can be one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diseases that are often devastating to a community and the economy. Take the flu, for example. The flu season starts as early as this month and can last until May. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year in the U.S., 5 to 20 percent of the population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications. The flu also leads to many school and work absences. Notably, one of the most important CDC recommendations to prevent the flu is washing hands often with soap and water.
Handwashing can also prevent many other serious diseases, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), a type of staph bacteria that causes skin and other infections. According to the CDC, children 0-18 years old and African-Americans are at particular risk for MRSA. And lately, schools have seen an increase on MRSA-related infections. The CDC has recently launched a new education campaign to help Americans better recognize and prevent MRSA, and at the top of the list of recommendations to prevent MRSA is practicing good hygiene, including washing hands or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Despite its disease fighting and lifesaving potential, handwashing is not always easy to promote. And even in developed countries such as the U.S., where there is frequent handwashing, many people don’t know how to wash hands properlyby using soap with warm water for about 20 seconds, long enough to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice. Moreover, a lot of people forget the importance of handwashing at “critical times” such as before handling food.
Schools house hundreds or thousands of people at a time and can often become germ spreading havens. Therefore, it is imperative that children and school staff be taught how to wash hands properly and at “critical times.” Last week the first-ever Global Handwashing Day was celebrated. More than 70 countries agreed to take part in the inaugural event, which featured a world record attempt by having school children and other participants around the world wash their hands with soap at the same time: before lunch.
Board Buzz believes, however, that handwashing can be an everyday celebration at schools. And that is easy to accomplish: just use soap with warm water and sing “Happy Birthday” twice!
