World Handwashing Day: Always wash your hands, they have a higher purpose

HYDERABAD: "Your hands have a higher purpose. So wash them always." Thus read a wall hanging right above the urinal basin in a Gents' restroom at a busy City pub that serves exotic beers.

Hand wash has been traditionally a culture for the humanity. The greatest idiom "wash one's hands off" something always meant to wipe out one's role in something and stay away from it. In a way, it means a complete cleansing.

Washing of hands became a rage and reached endemic proportions among the mankind across the globe when the pandemic hit the globe.

People began washing hands — hands-on and also off — so frequently to maintain hygiene.

People use hands for almost everything and keeping them clean should never be ignored.

On World Hand Washing Day, find out when you should wash your hands

• Following a bathroom visit or diaper change
• Before and after handling raw meat and veggies
• After blowing your nose, sneezing, or coughing
• Before and after tending to a cut or wound
• After handling animals, including pets, their food, and after cleaning their cages
• Managing waste

Now that you know when to wash your hands, keep reading to find out how to do it!

• Wet your hands with either warm or cold running water.
• Lather up with the soap.
• Spend at least 20 seconds rubbing your hands firmly.
• Do not forget to scrub all areas, including the wrists, between the fingers, and beneath the fingernails
• Rinse well.
• Dry your hands with a clean towel or air-dry them.

On Global Handwashing Day today, Sesame Workshop India, the non-profit educational media organisation behind Sesame Street, is launching a campaign to raise awareness of good hygiene and disease prevention practises, with support from the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition, a collaboration between Unilever and the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The multi-platform campaign promotes the Global Handwashing Day theme "H is for Handwashing."

Sesame Workshop India has created simple yet engaging online resources such as videos, posters, and e-books in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil as part of the campaign. The materials will be distributed to families through social media, YouTube, radio, and direct community services. A new Hindi version of the innovative Sesame Street "H for Handwashing" digital games, which were originally supported by soap brand Lifebuoy, will also be distributed in schools. The colourful, beloved Sesame Street Muppets are at the heart of the campaign, modelling positive health and hygiene behaviours for young children and families.

The Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC) was formed in 2020 by Unilever and the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). It was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to limit the spread of the virus in low and middle-income countries and has reached over 1 billion people with lifesaving behaviour-change messaging, hygiene products and access to training and education. Sesame Workshop, the parent organization of Sesame Workshop India, joined the HBCC coalition to support the physical and mental health of children and families amid the pandemic.

Talking about the organization's work with children in the space of health and hygiene, Sonali Khan, Managing Director, Sesame Workshop India said "Our goal is to promote hygiene knowledge, attitudes and practices among children and families and meet the developmental needs of children. Through the Hygiene Behaviour Change Coalition, we're scaling our efforts to reach more children and families with critical health and hygiene knowledge."