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Millions mark UN hand-washing day
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by Sanjay Jha | October 15, 2008 at 04:23 am
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Every 20 second a mother mourns a dead child lost to diarrhea - a completely preventable and utterly inexcusable cause of death. Each year 1.5 million children under the age of five years die from diarrhoeal-related diseases. Quoting these global figures, the Sulabh Sanitation movement Founder Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak pointed out that five of 10 top killer diseases of children in India are related to water and sanitation and include diarrhea, typhoid, jaundice, malaria, hookworm and even pneumonia.
The Sulabh International,one of the largest NGO of the country has observed the "Global Handwashing day" with a different manner today when Bollywood actress Raima Sen demonstrated tips of handwashing and hygienic practices to school children of Delhi.
Millions of children around the world are marking the United Nations' first Global Handwashing Day.
In India, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar will be leading the campaign that will see children across South Asia simultaneously washing their hands.
The UN says it wants to get over the message that this simple routine is one of the most effective ways of preventing killer diseases.
Nearly half the world's population do not have access to adequate sanitation.
'Critical times'
More than 120 million children in 70 countries across five continents are expected to participate in the campaign.
From Kabul to Karachi and from Delhi to Dhaka, millions of children will take part in the campaign and pledge to embrace more hygienic practices by the simple act of washing their hands.
India has recruited one of the country's biggest sporting icons, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, to be the face of the campaign.
Washing hands will be the topic of Afghan television and radio talk shows and Pakistani newscasts.
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Sanjay Jha
New Delhi, India
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 04:35 on October 15th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 05:57 on October 15th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's somewhat ironic that the issue behind this story is not that the peasants around the world are too lazy to wash or are content to remain with dirty hands. Rather, it is so difficult for so many to get decent access to water that hand washing becomes an impossible luxury!
Somehow, I don't get the impression that world leaders are very serious about achieving the Development Goals of halving the numbers of households (and those without housing) who have no occess to clean water. In fact, when they devisded all these goals at the end of 1999, ready for the Millenium, clean water and sanitation goals were not even on the agenda! It took a further two years to get them added! Another irony was the water born diseases (aggravated by the lack of decent supplies of clean water) were a prominent parts of the Development Goals! Also, the achieving of the goals are far behind what they've promised! Yet no one seems prepared to come together and say: 'We aren't doing so good about achieving these targets: what do we need to do to show the world we are really serious about this?'
at 05:50 on October 15th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 12:25 on October 15th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, was Ponchis Pilot present to partake?