GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- The United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated every October 15 as Global Hand washing Day, and calls on all peoples around the world to improve hygiene practices, for example, by washing your hands with soap.
Hand washing is not only simple and inexpensive, but hand washing with soap can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick.
Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour, Hon. Cornelius de Weever, calls on school children, teachers, families and others to learn about the benefits, and re-enforce the culture of hand washing with soap.
"I would like to encourage the healthcare professionals and the food service industry to be vigilant about their employees and ensure internal hand washing procedures and adherence to them," Minister De Weever said on Sunday.
'Get Checked,' is the Minister of Public Health's campaign to improve public health amongst the population of the country.
Section General Public Health (SGPH) reports that according to international studies, about two million children under the age of five die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the globe.
Hand washing with soap could protect about one out of every three young children who get sick with diarrhea, and almost one out of six young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.
Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively.
