5 step plan for hygiene that can reduce millions of deaths – words Alan Woods

It’s a sobering statistic that over 3 million children will die from infectious diseases in this coming year. The most alarming fact though is that the vast majority of these deaths will be from diseases that can be quite easily prevented.

With that in mind The Global Hygiene Council have launched a global report that hopes to fight back against this disturbing statistic. It is real people after all who lie behind these figures and not only is it distressing on a personal level it is damaging for each family involved and wider society as well.

Now The Global Hygiene Council (GHC) have launched their “Small Steps for Big Change” report that looks into the worrying burden preventable infectious diseases has on children worldwide and is asking families, governments, communities and healthcare professionals to implement a simple 5 step plan. This straight forward plan aims to improve our everyday hygiene practices in an easy to understand and simple way. They might be small steps but they could lead to a revolution in the way we tackle childhood infections and a dramatic decline in the number of children dying from these preventable diseases.

“It is unacceptable that largely preventable infections such as diarrhoea are still one of the biggest killers of children globally,” says Professor John Oxford, an infectious diseases expert from the UK and Chair of the GHC.

It is an amazing fact that the simple act of washing your hands with soap can help to reduce diarrhoeal deaths by 50%. The 5 step plan for hygiene could be a great leap forward in cutting the number of childhood death each year.