Safeguarding Assembly - Hand Washing

Miss Atkinson delivered her safeguarding assembly on hand washing. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, few use soap to wash their hands because soap and water for handwashing might be less accessible in developing countries. Even when soap is available, it might be reserved primarily for laundry and bathing instead of for handwashing. Handwashing with soap is not only simple and inexpensive, but also can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick. Washing hands with soap reduces illness and the spread of germs much more effectively than with water alone. 21.4 million children under the age of 5 years die from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. Handwashing with soap could prevent about 1 out of every 10 episodes of diarrheal illnesses and almost 1 out of 6 episodes of respiratory infection like pneumonia.