Hand Hygiene Practices In Schools

This book provides essential guidance to help schools in developing countries to promote and maintain hand hygiene practices, thus reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infection that cause both illness and absenteeism. Discussing both the challenges that hinder hand hygiene practices and the opportunities available to promote positive behaviours, it is particularly timely since the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, where infection could also be passed on through the hands. Drawing on both evidence-based research and successful interventions in specific countries, the book builds to offer a best-practice manual to address this important issue. This will be ideal reading for public health and community health working in developing regions, as well as those working for NGO’s.

The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to improve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants. Definitions of health-care settings are proposed in Appendix 1. These Guidelines and the associated WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy and an Implementation Toolkit (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/) are designed to offer health-care facilities in Member States a conceptual framework and practical tools for the application of recommendations in practice at the bedside. While ensuring consistency with the Guidelines recommendations, individual adaptation according to local regulations, settings, needs, and resources is desirable. This extensive review includes in one document sufficient technical information to support training materials and help plan implementation strategies. The document comprises six parts.

This delightful board book follows the journey of a germ using unique heat-sensitive pages and combining interaction, play and learning, showing pre-schoolers the importance of clean hands. The journey, from the toilet seat to the tummy (and out again!), explores the concepts of germs being invisible to the naked eye, multiplying and causing illness. By placing their warm hands on the thermochromic patches, the multiplying germs are revealed. The simple, bright and bold illustrations by Charlie Evans allow children to develop an understanding of science and health from a young age, while having fun in the process

Current data and trends in morbidity and mortality for the sub-Saharan Region as presented in this new edition reflect the heavy toll that HIV/AIDS has had on health indicators, leading to either a stalling or reversal of the gains made, not just for communicable disorders, but for cancers, as well as mental and neurological disorders.

Background: Hand washing is the number one practice by nurses that can prevent the spread of infection. Proper hand washing and the understanding of this responsibility can improve patient care. The Joint Commission reported an overall 36% compliance in hand hygiene over the last three decades. The issue that every nurse is aware of the fact that hand washing it the most important intervention, but continues to dismiss this practice time after time. Evidence Based Framework: The formation of the project has been based on the Steven's Ace Star Model. Through this framework, the problem has been identified, explored and an intervention has been chosen to create improvements through evidence based practice (EBP). Nightingale's Environmental theory has been connected to this project to support the need for proper hand hygiene. Methods: Effort was made to increase compliance in hand hygiene, and implement evidence-based education to improve hand hygiene among nurses and other health care workers. With this effort, there has been a proposed plan for sustainability by continuing to employ frequent hand hygiene trainings at the health care facility. Findings: Findings reported from Infection Control reported an overall increase in awareness of proper hand hygiene. By using participants from the in service to monitor hand hygiene among nurses, new understand of proper hand hygiene was reported. More through grading was done and an increase in awareness of troubled areas that need to be targeted in all units found. Conclusion: Following the project, the conclusion can be drawn that awareness was increased from the intervention. By educating a small sample of nurse, word was spread and continued to filter throughout the facility. Other departments were made more aware of special areas such as hand hygiene pre and post patient contact that they had been suffering in and were not fully aware was included in hand hygiene.

Effective communication is the key to encouraging healthy behavior. Documenting a revolution in both theory and practice, Johns Hopkins University experts show that communication leads the way to healthy reproductive health and family planning behavior. They explain why communication makes so much difference and how communication programs can be made to work. This book presents a compilation of lessons learned by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and its partners over 15 years of developing and implementing family planning communication projects campaigns in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Near East. An introductory essay provides an overview of family planning and communication worldwide and outlines the role of theory-based communication programs. The main part of the book presents lessons learned in the field about the process of designing and carrying out family planning communication projects. More than 60 lessons are presented, with descriptions and analysis of projects illustrating each lesson. A final essay explores the current and future challenges confronting family planning educators and other public health communicators.

"Diseases related to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene are a huge burden in developing countries. It is estimated that 88% of diarrhoeal disease is caused by unsafe water supply, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene (WHO, 2004c). Many schools serve communities that have a high prevalence of diseases related to inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and where child malnutrition and other underlying health problems are common. Schools, particularly those in rural areas, often completely lack drinking-water and sanitation and handwashing facilities; alternatively, where such facilities do exist they are often inadequate in both quality and quantity. Schools with poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, and intense levels of person-to-person contact, are high-risk environments for children and staff, and exacerbate children's particular susceptibility to environmental health hazards. Children's ability to learn may be affected by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in several ways. These include helminth infections (which affect hundreds of millions of school-age children), long-term exposure to chemical contaminants in water (e.g. lead and arsenic), diarrhoeal diseases and malaria infections, all of which force many schoolchildren to be absent from school. Poor environmental conditions in the classroom can also make both teaching and learning very difficult. Girls and boys are likely to be affected in different ways by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in schools, and this may contribute to unequal learning opportunities. Sometimes, girls and female teachers are more affected than boys because the lack of sanitary facilities means that they cannot attend school during menstruation. The international policy environment increasingly reflects these issues. Providing adequate levels of water supply, sanitation and hygiene in schools is of direct relevance to the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality. It is also supportive of other goals, especially those on major diseases and infant mortality." - p. iii