"Wash Your Hands With Soap Day", Campaign to Wash Hands

[Gert van der Hoek]

The Department of Health sped up the Campaign to Wash Hands

Jakarta, KP The "Wash Your Hands With Soap Day"that will be commemorated for the first time on October 15 2008 aimed at increasing the awareness of the community towards the importance of washing the hands.

The community's majority not menyadarai that most illnesses were caused bad him sanitation, including washing the hands. The expert in demography from the Indonesian University Prof Askobat Gani said, around 84 percent among the total of Rp 30 trillion health fees each year was caused by the death of the premature baby who was related to bad sanitation.

Meaning that, among Rp 30 trillion, around Rp 25 trillion were finished only to deal with the medical case resulting from bad sanitation. Askobat then explained the influence of sanitation and the behaviour of hygiene that was bad on the health.

? From results of the available research showed that the behaviour washed the hands with soap (CTPS) could reduce the risk of the occurrence of the case of diarrhoea to 45 percent, ISPA and bird flu as far as 50 percent ,?? he explained in his official information to the press yesterday (5/10).

With this condition, continued he, the household ideally must arrange the issuing for the procurement of water and soap. Askobat added, from the point of view health economics, the aspect of the decisive health of aspects of economics in the community.

In the meantime, Director Penyehatan Lingkungan Departemen of the Wan Alkadri Health stated, the program washed the hands with soap (CTPS) was campaigned for since the 1980 's. However, that did not yet often give results. ?Bahkan, the direct figure of the infectious diseases incident, like diarrhoea and ISPA, still was dominating the cause of the life loss balita,?? he revealed.

Wan proposed, the program washed the hands with soap (CTPS) was one of the investment in the health field preventively. ?CTPS could it was hoped support the big framework of the other program, that is the sanitation program was based on the community (PSBM) ,? he added.

Discussions concerning various rumours around CTPS were one of the alternatives to overcome the problem of the height of the infectious diseases incident, especially that infected pre-schoolers.

The program will involve the Department of the Health, the print media's journalist and electronics, the Department of the Public Works, Departemen of Education, and the partnership member government-private enterprises.

http://www.kendaripos.co.id/?pilih=news&mod=yes&aksi=lihat&id=5730

 

[Shiloh]

Re: "Wash Your Hands With Soap Day", Campaign to Wash Hands

Source: http://www.speroforum.com/site/arti...=Indonesia:+Handwashing+with+soap+saves+lives

Indonesia: Handwashing with soap saves lives
Despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote
Monday, October 13, 2008
By IRIN

Many of the deaths caused by diarrhoea and respiratory infections in Indonesia could have been prevented had people washed their hands more often with soap, the Health Ministry has said.

According to the World Health Organization, of the 161,000 children that died in Indonesia in 2006, 18 percent died from diarrhoea and 14 percent from pneumonia.

The Health Ministry cited US Agency for International Development (USAID) figures showing that only 14 percent of Indonesians wash their hands with soap before eating, 11.7 percent after defecating and 7.4 percent before feeding a child.

"We have to admit that the health condition of most Indonesians remains a cause for great concern," Wan Alkadri, the Health Ministry's director for health environment, told a news conference on 9 October announcing Global Hand-Washing Day, an initiative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which will be held on 15 October.

"One of the indicators of the poor health condition is the high rate of deaths among babies and children under five from diarrhoea and respiratory infections," he said.

"We call on the public to use the momentum of Global Handwashing Day to make handwashing with soap a habit at home, in schools and in the community where people live," he said. "Washing hands with soap is the easiest way to save lives."

UNICEF, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and several other agencies will jointly launch the first-ever Global Handwashing Day.

Effective, inexpensive

Handwashing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrhoeal and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year, according to a statement on the campaign website.

Together, diseases are responsible for the majority of all child deaths, but despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote, the website said.

Sanitation project

The Health Ministry has earmarked 600 billion rupiah (US$63 million) for a project that will provide good sanitation facilities in 10,000 villages by 2012. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rp 3 trillion, with the rest to be funded by the World Bank and other sources.

A multi-donor partnership of the World Bank called the Water and Sanitation Program said in a report released this year that at 55 percent in 2004, adequate sanitation coverage in Indonesia was well below the regional average of 67 percent for southeast Asian countries.

Nationwide, sanitation coverage has increased by 9 percent since 1990, representing significant progress towards the target of 73 percent set by the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

However, at the current rate of delivering adequate sanitation and clean water, Indonesia will fall short of the MDG sanitation target by 10 percent - the equivalent of 25 million people.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: "Wash Your Hands With Soap Day", Campaign to Wash Hands

How can the children from impoverished families buy soap for handwashing?

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"We (the teachers) have told students to wash their hands during daily morning school cleaning sessions. But I am not sure they have turned it into a habit or if they do it at home," Sri Wulan Safitri, a teacher at a state elementary school in North Jakarta said Saturday during a handwashing awareness event.

While many students heed her advice, the campaign remains far from achieving its goal.

Desy Oktaviani, a fourth-grade student, admitted she hardly ever washed her hands with soap.

"But I do bathe with soap," she said after being teased by her friends upon uttering the confession.

For many of the school's 145 students, hygiene is not a priority.

The public school is located in a poor neighborhood near Tanjung Priok seaport in North Jakarta. To get to school, the 145 children must walk past piles of garbage along a one-meter-wide lane that is flooded with sea water during high tide.

Most students come from impoverished families and live in simple houses with no running water. The majority of the children's parents work as fishermen, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, or laborers.

"Some accompany their parents to catch fish in fishponds. Children also play in the dirt a lot," Fitri said.

"Today, the practice of washing one's hands is a huge movement for our school. Hopefully they now know that other people are doing it too. It is more effective when they themselves want to do it, rather than because they are told to."

After the half-day event, the members of staff also showed signs of having changed.

Head master Paulus Santoso said the school did not provide soap in the student toilets.

"We will do it from now on. We will also try to approach the parents about washing hands. We will also tell the food vendors to wash their hands and to sell healthier food, not just noodles," he said.

Fitri came up with her own idea on how to encourage the practice.

"Usually we hold games and competitions to celebrate Independence Day. Maybe we can have a washing-hands-related competition. We can ask them to wash their hands and look at them under the school's microscope to see whose hands are the cleanest," she said.

The government and many organizations are attempting to encourage a positive attitude toward hygiene by observing Global Handwashing Day.

"But handwashing is not the end. It is the entry point to personal hygiene and health consciousness," said Alwis Rustam, public outreach and communications coordinator of a USAID environmental services program.

"A study we conducted in Sumatra last year showed that people who wash their hands tend to start caring more about their personal hygiene too," he said.

According to a 2008 World Bank report, Indonesia suffers US$ 6.3 billion in state losses per year because of poor sanitation.

Of that figure, an estimated $3.3 billion is spent on an annual average of 120 million cases of hygiene-related illnesses resulting in 500,000 fatalities.

Diarrhea, which is mainly caused by contaminated food or water, is the second and third-biggest killer of toddlers and babies in the country, respectively.

Doctor Handrawan Nadesul said, "The (risk of infection by) worms-related illnesses, SARS and even bird flu can be reduced by the simple act of washing hands with soap and running water. Many sickness and death cases are avoidable.

"The rate of worm infection in Indonesia is very high, at 60-70 percent. Adults can have it, but it is more prevalent among children. Some worms absorb a child's nutrients, slowing down their brain and physical development.

"Others absorb blood and cause anemia. Severe anemia can cause heart attack. It is very saddening for a child to suffer a heart attack just because of a worm infection when the prevention and cure are so simple," he said, adding that public sanitation facilities needed improvement.

"There must be adequate facilities, especially with clean running water, so that worm eggs that are brushed away (when someone washes their hands) are flushed away, rather than attaching themselves to someone else's hands." (mri)

http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20081020.C03&irec=2

 

[Dianna]

Re: "Wash Your Hands With Soap Day", Campaign to Wash Hands

Happy Handwashing Day!


Global Handwashing Day

http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/