Beating infection at the basin

Bacteria can reproduce every 20 minutes. By the end of the day, the germs on our hands collected from contact with surfaces and other people, have multiplied into enormous colonies of potential infection. These germs are spread from our hands to our faces when we eat, blow our noses, or rub our eyes.

In most cases, healthy people are able to have numerous close encounters with bacteria during the day without being affected. When something's “going around” however, disease-causing bacteria become part of the daily cocktail we transfer to our bodies. These pathogens can include the common cold and flu bugs, as well as a number of pathogens which cause gastrointestinal disorders such as infectious diarrhoea.

Yet despite knowing that their hands are breeding grounds for infection, many people don't make hand-washing an automatic part of their daily lives. The power of hand-washing is not to be underestimated. Two-million children around the world die each year from diarrhoea. It is estimated that as many as 46% of them could have been saved by the simple use of soap and water.

Essential hand-washing times are after using the toilet, after touching animals or animal waste, before and after preparing food, and before eating. Experts also recommend you wash your hands after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands, and after handling rubbish.

These lessons of hand-washing are best learnt young. Children learn from example, so the best way to ensure they develop the habit of hand-washing is for the adults around them to show them the ropes.

Thousands of learners around Gauteng are getting the message in a more entertaining way, thanks to a hand-washing and hygiene initiative run by Steiner Hygiene, Kimberley-Clark Professional, and Steiner Environmental Solutions.

Dubbed Operation Deep Clean, the initiative uses a cast of colourful characters in an educational roadshow which reaches around 15 000 to 20 000 pre-primary and primary school learners a month, teaching children the importance of hand-washing and personal hygiene.

Since many of the schools visited don't have the facilities where learners can practise what the initiative is preaching, Operation Deep Clean goes a step further. It helps schools clean up their appalling bathrooms, and is attempting to set them up with corporate sponsored hygiene contracts for ongoing upkeep and sustainability. Already 20 suburban and 40 township schools in Gauteng have received a Deep Clean sponsored by Steiner Environmental Solutions, with more to follow.

So take a leaf out of Operation Deep Clean's book, and spread the hand-washing message. It's still the best and easiest way to curb the spread of the worst winter nasties.

For further information contact:
Anli Moller - Steiner Hygiene
Brand Manager
Tel: 011 923 9568

Or

Ses Matlapeng - Kimberly-Clark Professional
Product Manager Washroom Category
Tel: 011 456 5716