Regular hand washing with soap could save the lives thousands of children under five who die annually of diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, health officials in Sanaa said on Global Handwashing Day, 18 October.
According to Kamal Abdullah, health and education programmes officer at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in Yemen, diarrhoeal diseases account for 20—25 percent of the 84,000 annual deaths among children under five.
Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhoea rates by half, he said, adding: “We must focus on the reasons for under-five mortality deaths. Important measures... include washing hands with soap before eating, preparing food, giving food to children, and after using the toilet.”
Sami Saeed, in charge of water projects at UNICEF Yemen, told IRIN that a UNICEF study in five of the country’s 21 governorates in 2003 found: “25 percent of people washed their hands with soap. Only 17 percent of mothers cleaned their children after using toilets.”
Saeed said there was low awareness of the health benefits of regular hand washing with soap, and that 88 percent of diarrhoea cases were due to a lack of hygienic practices.
Ali al-Mudhwahi, director of the Ministry of Health’s family health department, said there were some cultural practices that helped increase diarrhoeal diseases: “Some people have the habit of washing their hands in one container. This causes infections without people realising it,” he said.
According to al-Mudhwahi, Yemen marked Global Handwashing Day to help raise awareness and curb the spread of diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections, which can be transmitted by bacteria and germs from dirty hands.
“Acute respiratory infections are the primary cause of under-five deaths in some areas," he said, adding that respiratory diseases would be reduced by 23 percent if hands were washed regularly with soap and water.
Water-scarce
Yemen is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. According to government figures, per capita water use is 125 cubic metres (cu.m.) per year, well below the global average of 1,500 cu.m. per year.
UNICEF’s Saeed said the lack of water undoubtedly made handwashing difficult. Spending hours fetching water makes people reluctant to use it for anything but drinking, he said.
Compounding the problem is the fact that sanitation is generally very poor: Only 43 percent of Yemen's 21 million people have access to improved sanitation, according to the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report 2007/8.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
