What is National Hand Hygiene Awareness Week?
National Hand Hygiene Awareness Week has been launched by Wet Ones to educate Brits on the importance of keeping hands clean in order to stay healthy and prevent the spread of germs and bacteria.
The launch comes on the back of new UK Hand Hygiene research, commissioned by Wet Ones, revealing a number of Brits’ worrying hand-cleaning habits, or lack of them, and their general unawareness of how and when they come in contact with germs throughout the day.
- 48% are unaware of the germs harboured by the tube, trains and buses.
- 58% don’t bother washing their hands when they get to work after travelling on public transport.
- 64% don’t bother cleaning their hands after coughing or sneezing.
- Only 46% scrub their hands clean before dinner.
- Only 26% clean their hands after playing in the park with their kids.
80% of all diseases are passed on by human contact – including viruses such as pneumonia and the common cold – it’s essential that people maintain good hand hygiene, which prevents the spreading of germs and illnesses.
A spokesperson for Wet Ones says: “We were very surprised by the results of the survey, which suggests that there's a huge amount of education on hand hygiene required in the UK. We shouldn’t let our busy lifestyles compromise our health and hygiene – it only takes a few seconds to wash our hands and even when we’re out and about we can use an antibacterial hand wipe such as Wet Ones Cleansing.”
GMTV’s Dr Hilary Jones, who’s backing National Hand Hygiene Awareness Week, says: “Hand hygiene is the most effective way to stop the spreading of bacteria and germs. It’s shocking that 64% aren’t cleaning their hands after coughing or sneezing. Every time this happens, droplets containing cold and flu viruses are easily transferred to surfaces that the person touches, such as door handles, hand rails, phones and keyboards."
National Hand Hygiene Awareness Week aims to improve the nation’s current hand hygiene habits, educating us on how and when we are coming into contact with germs and bacteria, and how we can prevent them from spreading in order to stay healthy and well this winter.