However, what at first glance may seem simple to solve, reveals an enormous problem of access to the basic facilities to carry out these hygiene practices. There are 3,000 million people in the world who do not have access to services and facilities at home that allow them to maintain daily habits that take care of their health and that of their family. In a context in which the COVID-19 Pandemic is still present, the lack of access to soap and water constantly and directly, deepens inequalities and multiplies the transmission of this and other viruses and bacteria.
Schools, dining rooms and community centers function in many cases as fundamental meeting and educational exchange spaces for the promotion of a habit that can make the difference between the development and progress of an entire locality. Learning the correct washing of hands with soap and water is, in short, accessing a tool for well-being, to live a healthy and full life, to take care of ourselves and the other with whom we build our projects day by day. Clean hands save lives and are the starting point to take care of our environments and make them grow.
That is why the investment in the promotion of this practice is so effective, achieving an unmatched impact. Beyond the resources that the States allocate to sanitary facilities and medical supplies to respond to diseases related to poor personal and food hygiene, added to the consumption of untreated water and poor housing conditions, as a society we have to think about what strategies we We give as a society to guarantee the promotion of hand washing as a habit from early childhood. It is necessary to understand that investments in WASH services (water, hygiene and sanitation) are generally the answer to a large part of the problems associated with social inequality that multiplies health problems and transforms them into global challenges.
We must contribute to the construction of sustainable and innovative solutions that lead to concrete responses to increasingly widespread problems. In the case of hand washing, it is also necessary to consider the difficulty in accessing the resource from the water crisis that climate change leaves us all over the planet. In a world with unequal access to public goods, the need to think comprehensive strategies with education, technology and infrastructure must occupy the agenda of all productive sectors. Not only because of the humanitarian task of saving the lives of millions of children at risk, but also because the world in which we live and produce is one and we have to take care of it. At Hand washing world day, let us take care to take care of everyone.
Executive Director of the Agua Segura Project.
