PRESS RELEASE

Clean Hands Save Lives

Commemoration of Global Handwashing Day and launch of national
handwashing campaign
15 October 2010, Eastern Cape Braving

the wind and rain, close to 2,000 children, parents,

teachers and community members gathered at the Mount Packard Secondary Junior School in
Nenge Village to commemorate the third Global Handwashing Day and to spread the message
that clean hands save lives.
The event marked the start of a national handwashing campaign in South Africa, which, through
the power of mass media and community mobilization, will bring the lifesaving message of
handwashing with soap and water to millions of people countrywide.
Washing hands with soap and water at critical times helps reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal
disease by more than 40 per cent, said Dr. David Kalombo, Senior HIV & AIDS Specialist at
UNICEF South Africa.
In spite of its effectiveness in helping to reduce incidence of disease, this simple and affordable
health intervention is often not practiced regularly. Each year, diarrhoeal diseases and acute
respiratory infections are responsible for the deaths of more than 3.5 million children under the
age of five, worldwide. The 2010 theme for Global Handwashing Day in South Africa is Clean
Hands Save Lives and emphasizes the need to make the washing of hands with soap and
water a normal part of peoples lives.
Before we eat we must wash our hands and when we come back from the toilet. Also when we
are helping with a baby, said eight-year-old Sisanda, highlighting some of the key times when
the washing of hands is a must.
Dozens of mobile handwashing dispensers were placed around Mount Packard school,
encouraging all those attending to lather up. Community health workers from the OR Tambo
Municipality and eager youngsters were on-hand to assist anyone who needed help.
Handwashing remains one of the simplest ways to protect young children from diseases that
claim millions of lives, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing child
mortality, stressed Dr. Kalombo.
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PRESS RELEASE
The national handwashing campaign is a collaboration between various Government
departments at national and provincial level notably the Departments of Health and Human
Settlements, UNICEF, various NGOs and private sector partners. Throughout October
roadshows will be conducted in other schools and communities in South Africa to continue the
crusade on personal hygiene promotion to eliminate preventable diseases.

ends