Are You Aware of Your Child’s Handwashing Habits? Here’s Why You Should Be

WORDS LIM TECK CHOON

FEATURED EXPERT
PROFESSOR EMERITA DR ELIZABETH SCOTT
Chair of the Global Hygiene Council
FIRST, THE BIG CONCERN
  • Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death all over the world.
  • Every year, there are about 525,000 children under 5 that perish from diarrhoea-related diseases.
  • A single emerging infectious disease can cost the global economy anything from USD30–50 billion.
  • There is also the rise of drug-resistant infections to worry about.
WHAT DO OUR CHILDREN HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?

Professor Dr Elizabeth Scott reveals that about 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrhea-related diseases and pneumonia.

However, it does not have to be this way. Professor Dr Scott shares that:

  • Simple handwashing could protect 1 in 3 children from diarrhoea.
  • Likewise, handwashing can shield 1 in 5 children from pneumonia.

“Access to handwashing essentials such as soap and water, and hand washing education in schools not only fosters good hygiene habits but can help to improve attendance,” she goes on to explain.

She adds: “Furthermore, early hygiene habits potentially enhance child development in some settings.”

Are you washing your hands correctly? Click for a larger, clearer image.
OUR KIDS AREN’T WASHING THEIR HANDS ENOUGH OR CORRECTLY, THOUGH!

Results of the Global Hygiene Council’s survey on nearly 5,000 parents, primary school teachers
and children aged between 5 and 10 found that:

  • 40% of primary school children are not always using soap when washing their
    hands at school.
  • 27% of primary school children did not learn how to wash their hands at school.
  • Only 37% of parents and teachers know that hands can still contain germs when they are visibly clean.
  • 47% of primary school children believe that if their hands are visibly clean, they will not get sick.
  • 65% of primary school children say they have seen people in their school not wash their hands after going to the toilet.
  • 50% of parents and teachers believe that children’s handwashing habits have little effect on whether they get ill.
OH DEAR, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS?

The Global Hygiene Council offers the following recommendations, which they call the ‘four pillars of change’:

Pillar 1: Build on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Link lessons learned from the implementation of hygiene practices in previous pandemics (such as handwashing, mask wearing, and surface disinfection) to provide policy guidance for future public health campaigns and infection, prevention and control policies.

Pillar 2: Mainstream AMR-sensitive infection prevention and control tools.

Direct more focus on infection prevention and investment in new antimicrobials, vaccinations, and antimicrobial stewardship. National action plans on antimicrobial resistance should be adapted to include hygiene and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) recommendations for home and community settings.

Pillar 3: Quantify the economic benefits of hygiene.

Consider hygiene education and access to appropriate hygiene facilities as a critical and cost-effective solution for facilitating hygiene behaviour change and protecting against the spread of infectious diseases in schools, at workplaces, and throughout communities.

Pillar 4: Establish strong hygiene habits.

Make public communications campaigns easy to understand and built on evidence-based approaches. Highlight the personal impact that changing hygiene behaviour has on the health of families and communities with respect to reducing the risk of infection.

PROTECTING FUTURE GENERATIONS AGAINST PANDEMICS

To protect against future pandemics, including the threat of antimicrobial resistance, there is a need for greater public awareness of the role of targeted hygiene practices in preventing infections within home and community settings.

Future public health campaigns and infection prevention and control policies should include clear and practical information on evidence-based practices, as well as ensuring adequate access to clean water and hygiene resources to help prevent the spread of infections, including those that are drug resistant.

References:

  1. World Health Organization. (2021, March 10). Diarrhoea. https://www.who.int/health-topics/diarrhoea
  2. McArthur D. B. (2019). Emerging infectious diseases. The nursing clinics of North America, 54(2), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2019.02.006
  3. Liu, L., Johnson, H. L., Cousens, S., Perin, J., Scott, S., Lawn, J. E., Rudan, I., Campbell, H., Cibulskis, R., Li, M., Mathers, C., Black, R. E., & Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group of WHO and UNICEF (2012). Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: An updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. Lancet (London, England), 379(9832), 2151–2161. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60560-1
  4. Ejemot, R. I., Ehiri, J. E., Meremikwu, M. M., & Critchley, J. A. (2008). Hand washing for preventing diarrhoea. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (1), CD004265. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004265.pub2
  5. Aiello, A. E., Coulborn, R. M., Perez, V., & Larson, E. L. (2008). Effect of hand hygiene on infectious disease risk in the community setting: a meta-analysis. American journal of public health, 98(8), 1372–1381. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.124610

Is Antimicrobial Resistance the Next Global Threat After COVID-19? Let’s Find Out

WORDS PROFESSOR DR SASHEELA SRI LA SRI PONNAMPALAVANAR

FEATURED EXPERT
PROFESSOR DR SASHEELA SRI LA SRI PONNAMPALAVANAR
Infectious Disease Professor
University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC)

As Malaysia and most of the world transitioned to the endemic phase of COVID-19, it’s easy to forget that just two years ago, the pandemic had led to millions of lives lost, rise in unemployment rates, and the near-collapse of healthcare systems due to the tsunami of cases. Today, thanks to the quick development of medical innovations such as COVID-19 vaccines, we are now able to continue living our lives in the new normal, resuming productivity, and building towards economic recovery and growth.

Now that we have seen the long-lasting and devastating impact that a pandemic can leave, it is vital that we draw our attention to tackling another urgent public health crisis—antimicrobial resistance, which continues to rise to alarming levels across the world.

A SILENT PANDEMIC

Over the years, antimicrobial resistance has become an urgent health challenge on a global scale. This is because microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses no longer respond to commonly used medicines, resulting in infections becoming harder to treat.

How antibiotic resistance happens. Click the image above for a larger, clearer version.

Antimicrobial treatment no longer serves their desired effect, which in turn will increase the risk of poor outcomes in patients with an infection caused by antimicrobial resistance.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in antibiotic prescriptions despite a relatively low bacterial co-infection rate.

The misuse of antibiotics in these patients can result in increased selective pressure for antimicrobial resistance leading to a lasting consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic .

Apart from overprescribing of antibiotics unnecessarily, the increased risk of antimicrobial resistance is compounded by the lack of awareness of appropriate antibiotic use and a poor understanding on the consequences of misusing antibiotics among the public .

It is estimated that drug resistance claims 700,000 lives every year, and this toll is projected to increase exponentially to 10 million a year by 2050 without immediate action.

CONCERNING IMPACTS OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Development of new antibiotics may not be fast enough to replace those that have become less effective due to antimicrobial resistance

The discovery of antibiotics was a turning point in human history, revolutionizing medicine and increasing the survival rates of infected patients over time.

However, the growing burden of antimicrobial resistance threatens the return to a world with a scarcity of effective treatments for even common bacterial infections such as urinary tract infection, pneumonia, skin infection, and surgical site infections.

As the effects of antimicrobial resistance continue to increase today, the discovery and development of new antimicrobials is not able to keep up against the emergence of AMR.

There is an urgent need for new antibacterial drugs in the market, but with this, comes the importance of ensuring that these antibiotics are used wisely.

Patients should be prescribed antibiotics only when needed, at the right dose, frequency, and duration. Otherwise the new antibiotics will also suffer the same fate as its predecessors and eventually lose effectiveness .

Antimicrobial resistance can also result in productivity loss caused by sickness and premature death, as well as rise of healthcare cost that stems from prolonged hospital stays and care

Without effective tools for the prevention and adequate treatment of drug-resistant infections, treatment may fail for an increasing number of patients. There will also be an increased risk in major medical procedures such as surgery, chemotherapy, and organ transplants .

WHAT CAN WE DO TO REDUCE & PREVENT ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE?
  1. We should only take antibiotics when prescribed by a doctor and correctly follow the prescription directions.
  2. Don’t demand for antibiotics and buy medication without a prescription, or share or take leftover antibiotics.
  3. Maintain strict infection prevention measures such as hand hygiene to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance organisms.
  4. There is now increasing evidence that certain vaccines currently available for infectious diseases can decrease the risks of AMR by preventing bacterial and viral infections. Keeping up to date on vaccination schedules. particularly for children and elderlies, may be able to reduce the use of antibiotics, and thus prevent antibiotic-resistant infections.
A CALL TO STAKEHOLDERS TO RISE UP & REDUCE THE SPREAD OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Besides creating awareness among consumers and healthcare professionals, combatting antimicrobial resistance also requires action from governments, policymakers, and industry players to really address the crux of the issue.

Investment is required in antibiotic research and development, both as a tool to control novel disease outbreaks, and to treat known pathogens developing resistance to currently available treatments.

We must learn from the COVID-19 pandemic to address the next global and public health threat. We have seen that it is indeed possible for all parties to work together to reduce the spread of COVID-19—from citizens adhering to new SOPs, pharmaceutical companies driving innovations that led to the creation of vaccines and COVID-19 treatment, and governments who put in place and enforced guidelines for the people, while also supporting the R&D of these innovations.

The same urgency is needed so that we can prevent the next public health crisis.