Washing hands saves lives

Caption:   Members of the public trying out what he learnt from the demonstration.

By MATTHEW VARI

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 (Midweek Chronicle, PNG)

SIMPLE as it sounds, that was the message from the Health Department through the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) yesterday in celebrating the sixth annual Global Hand Washing Day.

PMGH took the lead to promote hand washing by holding a presentation and demonstration on the proper ways to go about achieving clean washed hands.

Members of the general public took part in the hand washing demonstration to learn the effective ways to wash hands.

The link between hand washing and the spread of diseases was established in the mid-1800s.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) research in 2008-hand washing using soap and water saves hundreds and thousands of lives around the world.  

Presenters even highlighted that even health workers were responsible for the spread of infections through not properly washing their hands called Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI), according to many researchers through WHO.

Hand Hygiene Nurse, Sister Veronica Wohuinangu, said that Papua New Guineans have a bad no care attitude when it came to washing hands.

“In PNG we say that it is not a big deal, until we get ill and we say that we are sick, like stomach aches, diarrhoea, typhoid, pneumonia, and other illnesses.”

“You look at people sitting in the streets selling betel-nuts, ice block, and other food stuff- handling them without thinking of the importance of washing their hands.”

She even elaborated on the importance of health workers like doctors nurses to wash their hands properly as they were health care provider who come in contact with many ill patients.

 “In terms of health workers in the health service, I would say that about 20 per cent really know how to wash their hands- the other 80 per cent don’t.”

“That is why they need to know, and it all comes down to the basics.”

“WHO has called on health care providers telling us to get back to the basics- even the most qualified scientists in the world are telling us this,” she said.

A lot would prevent so many health problems if we conform to the proper ways of washing hands.

Wohuinangu added that a lot of the biggest health problems we face today could be prevented if people take time to wash their hands, saying that a lot of money and lives could be saved in the process.