A campaign to promote effective hand hygiene practices got underway here on Monday.
Launching the campaign organised by the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the Collectorate, The Nilgiris Collector P. Sankar said that by keeping the hands clean about 80 per cent of the diseases can be kept at bay.
The Deputy Director, Health, P.G. Bhanumathy, said that programmes to create awareness about the importance of hand hygiene which were now being conducted periodically in various towns and village panchayats would be intensified. She said that the main objective was to prevent H1N1 infection.
The World Health Organisation has attached considerable significance to hand hygiene. It has also dedicated a day for it.
Observers told The Hindu that it was a national priority for over 180 countries, including India.
Washing hands with soap and water or a hand sanitizer is the simplest and most cost-effective way of promoting community well-being and preventing respiratory illnesses, common cold and other infections.
By keeping the hands clean about 80 per cent of the diseases can be kept at bay, says District Collector
