Washing Our Hand: Important or Not?
- germbustercampaign
- Dec 24, 2016
- 3 min read
Back again with us, fellow Germ Buster! What’s the previous topic we discuss? Oh right, in the last topic we discuss oubt how germs are everywhere in our life. Okay then! Now, we will talk about the importance of washing hands.
Well in your opinion, is washing your hands important? Well, for Indonesian they think washing hands are not to important. Based on data from Ministry of Health in 2013, only 18,5% wash their hands with soap before doing five important activities. Those five important activities are when cleansing children after defecating, defecating, before eating, feeding children and after cooking. This shows how low our people awareness in the importance of washing their hands. This is somehow depressing because with washing our hands, we can prevent illness. A simple solution to avoid hospital so we don’t have to spend our many, a cheap way to keep us healty.
There’s another interesting fact guys. Did you know that 1 in 5 people don't wash their hands and of those that do only 30% use soap? The CDC recommends 15-20 seconds of vigorous hand washing with soap and water to effectively kill germs, but only about 5% of people wash their hands for 15-seconds or more. The result - fecal matter including bacteria such as E. coli can be found on just over a quarter of our hands according to a new study by hygiene experts from Queen Mary University of London. Ironically, 91% of the participants in the study stated they washed their hands after using the toilet, although not surprising the level of fecal organisms found suggested otherwise. “People may tell us they wash their hands but the research shows us different, and highlights just how easily transferable these pathogens are,” said Dr Ron Cutler, who led the research at Queen Mary. Scary isn’t it?
And the more interesting fact is that "Many people do not wash their hands when the behavior in which they engage would warrant it," begins a recent study from Michigan State University, and I'm sorry to say it only gets grosser from there. Researchers sneakily observed 3,749 people in public restrooms and found that nearly all of them—95 percent—didn't wash their hands long enough to kill germs. Even scarier, 15 percent of men and 7 percent of women did not wash their hands at all. When they did bother to turn on a faucet, half of men and 22 percent of women neglected to use soap! (Or, as the researchers describe it: They "attempted to wash their hands," but failed.)
This extensive study founds lots of other interesting tidbits about hand-washing habits. Here are a few:
People were more likely to wash their hands in the morning
People were less likely to wash their hands if the sink was dirty
People were more likely to wash their hands if there was sign to remind them
Other hand-washing research has found that college students are disgusting, people will wash their hands if they're being watched, and antibacterial soap isn't much better than the regular kind.
Well, that’s another topic that we discuss now. We hope that after reading this, you want to start caring for your health by washing your hands regulary. Remember guys, “Be Aware, Wash With Care”. Stay Tuned for our next topic! And Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrating it! Here's a hello from one of our fellow Germ-Buster!
Sources: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/only-5-percent-people-wash-their-hands-correctly, http://info.debgroup.com/blog/bid/316824/1-in-5-People-Don-t-Wash-Their-Hands, http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/10/19/055522961/Only-185-Indonesians-Wash-Hands-with-Soap-Report
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