'Due to hand washing, over 1 M Pinoy school children now healthier'

MANILA, Philippines - The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported yesterday that over a million Filipino school children are now healthier and protected from deadly diseases due to simple hand washing.

UNICEF Representative Tim Grieves said more than a million public school children in the country benefited and were saved from deadly and communicable diseases with the launching of the Global Handwashing (GH) Day five years ago.

“Global Handwashing Day is the most successful hygiene campaign in the world and it has improved the health of many public school children in the Philippines,” Grieves said.

He said handwashing is a very simple act, but when done during five critical times can save lives.

The five critical times are before eating, before handling of food, after using the toilet, after handling pets and after playtime.

Grieves said more than 3.5 million children under five die every year worldwide due to diarrhea and pneumonia and in the Philippines, these are also among the top causes of death among children.

But based on recent studies, Grieves said, the GH campaign reduced respiratory infection, malnutrition, diarrhea and other deadly diseases among public school children in the Philippines by 30 to 50 percent.

“With the continued implementation of GH, we can see healthy and wealthy future for Filipino kids,” Grieves noted.

Grieves said the Philippines started celebrating GH Day five years ago, but handwashing in public schools was institutionalized only with the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2010.