Millions do not have access to soap and water for washing hand in time of COVID 19

To prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) is almost impossible without clean water, decent sanitation, and good hygiene. And in time of Coronavirus pandemic, millions have no access to it.

Nowadays 785 million people globally have a lack of access to clean water and 2.3 billion don’t have safe and private toilets. In the poorest countries around the world, almost half (45%) of health care facilities do not have any clean water on site.

According to Kelly Parsons, U.S. CEO of WaterAid., Handwashing is one of the simplest and most effective disease prevention methods available and It’s totally unacceptable that millions of people worldwide do not have access to basic services like clean water, sanitation, and soap for hand wash purpose.

One in five healthcare facilities (21%) globally do not provide decent toilets and one in six health care facilities has no handwashing facilities at all, According to the Unicef-WHO Joint Monitoring Programme.

Also of concern are the number of health facilities without good waste management and general cleaning, which can contribute to the spread of infection. Only one in four (27%) health care facilities in the least developed countries had the ability to safely dispose of medical waste, and only four countries had data on how health facilities are cleaned.

Handwashing has been shown to reduce cases of all respiratory diseases by 20% and diarrhea by 30% and can help healthcare centers be better placed to support a response to an outbreak.

This article has been posted by a News Hour Correspondent. For queries, please contact through [email protected]
No Comments