Question

Persuasive speech outline for the topic The Importance of Hand Washing .

Answer 1

Safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services are an essential part of preventing and protecting human health during infectious disease outbreaks, including the current COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most cost-effective strategies for increasing pandemic preparedness, especially in resource-constrained settings, is investing in core public health infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems. Good WASH and waste management practices, that are consistently applied, serve as barriers to human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus in homes, communities, health care facilities, schools, and other public spaces.

Hand washing with soap, when done correctly, is critical in the fight against COVID-19, but 3 billion people have no ready access to a place to wash their hands with soap at home. WHO released interim guidance on 1 April 2020, recommending to all Member States to make hand hygiene facilities in front of public and private commercial buildings as well as at all transport hubs obligatory. In particular people in densely populated settings will benefit from improved hand hygiene infrastructure at home and in public places.

Safely managed WASH services are also critical during the recovery phase of a disease outbreak to mitigate secondary impacts on community livelihoods and wellbeing. These secondary impacts-which could include disruptions to supply chains, inability to pay bills, or panic-buying-have negative impacts on the continuity and quality of water and sanitation services, the ability of affected households to access and pay for WASH services and products (for instance, soap, point of use water treatment or menstrual hygiene products) and the ability of schools, workplaces and other public spaces to maintain effective hygiene protocols when they re-open. If not managed, secondary impacts can increase the risk of further spreading water borne diseases, including potential disease outbreaks such as cholera, particularly where the disease is endemic.

According to a WHO/UNICEF technical brief on WASH and waste management for COVID-19:

• Frequent and proper hand hygiene is one of the most important measures that can be used to prevent infection with the COVID-19 virus. WASH services should enable more frequent and regular hand hygiene by improving facilities and using proven behavior change techniques.
• WHO guidance on the safe management of drinking water and sanitation services applies to the COVID-19 outbreak. Measures that go above and beyond these recommendations are not needed.
• Many co-benefits will be realized by safely managing WASH services and applying good hygiene practices. Such efforts will prevent other infectious diseases, which cause millions of deaths each year.

This document will help the reader to make an informed choice which hand washing station design to introduce and procure. In the context of COVID-19, hand washing is critical wherever a people meet and touch surfaces, but hand washing remains also a key hygiene practices to prevent many other water-borne diseases. This includes homes, but also public places such as schools, health care facilities, workplaces, markets, places of worship and public transportation hubs. The hand washing station needs to be intuitive and easy to use for all, including people living with a disability and children. The provision, operation and maintenance of hand washing stations needs to go in hand with behaviour change programming to promote uptake and strengthening of the enabling environment to ensure sustainability of the facilities and their use.

• Especially in an emergency response, the adaptation, repair, rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure should be prioritized.
• Hand washing station designs should be appropriate for the intended use case and needs to consider health, design features and local procurement as well as user experience and accessibility.
• The design of the tap is essential to limit cross-contamination between hand washers and with 1 m distance between users should be given a primary consideration in the context of the Covid-19 response.
• UNICEF aims to contribute to creating healthy and sustainable local markets where possible, hence products are generally procured locally.
• Different kinds of soap and alcohol-based hand rub are available as hand cleaning agents. Chlorine based solutions, ash and hand washing with water only are not recommended, but can be considered as last resort.