It seems there’s an observance for every day and on October 15^th, Antigua and Barbuda joined the rest of the world to observe Global Hand Washing Day.

The Central Board of Health had its activities planned to observe the day, which was set aside to raise awareness about proper hygiene and its benefits

Julian Mannix, Senior Health Inspector at the Central Board of Health spoke to Antigua.news about the day’s observance, which was observed a day in advance

“We had an activity where the staff was stationed outside the ACB on Market Street. We engaged the public about the importance of hand washing. We had a hand-washing station that was set up when we asked members of the public to demonstrate their hand-washing technique. If we observed it wasn’t done properly, we would advise them. We want people to continue to wash their hands to remove any possible germs,” she said

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) report released recently showed that some 700 children daily from diseases caused by inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.

The document also pointed out that 3 in 10 people worldwide lack basic hand washing facilities with soap and water

The study marking Global Handwashing Day also mentioned that 2.3 billion children and their families worldwide do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap and water at home and that half of the health centers in the world have only a basic hand hygiene service, while 2 out of 5 schools do not have this infrastructure, which affects over 800 million children and young adults.

Hand washing reduces multiple diseases that cause chronic problems and cuts down school absenteeism rates by up to 43%, in addition to other benefits, Unicef pointed out.

The 2022 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene.”