Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet
ISSN: 1539-8285 (Print) 1539-8293 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wchi20
Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives
Alexis Hadaway
To cite this article: Alexis Hadaway (2020) Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives, Journal of
Consumer Health on the Internet, 24:1, 43-49, DOI: 10.1080/15398285.2019.1710981
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15398285.2019.1710981
Published online: 11 Feb 2020.
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET
2020, VOL. 24, NO. 1, 43–49
https://doi.org/10.1080/15398285.2019.1710981
HEALTH SITINGS
Bethany Figg, Column Editor
Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives
Alexis Hadaway
College of Medicine, Department of Graduate Medical Education, Central Michigan University,
Saginaw, MI, USA
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Handwashing is one of the most important ways to prevent Antibiotic resistance; child
the spread of illness. The five steps that need to be completed healthy; handwashing;
every time handwashing occurs are: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, healthy habits; healthy
lifestyle; spread of illness
dry. Using these tips will improve the likelihood of fighting
germs and reducing the spread of illness. The Centers for
Disease Control has launched a new campaign titled “Life is
Better with Clean Hands” as an initiative to spread the word
about the importance of handwashing, and can be found at
<http://cdc.gov/handwashing>. Through this campaign and
other publications, the CDC hopes to see a reduction in
spread of illness.
Introduction
Handwashing is one of the most important ways to keep a person healthy
and prevent illness. The information from the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) regarding handwashing can be found at <http://cdc.gov/
handwashing>. The CDC recommends the following five steps that need
to be taken when handwashing to be the most successful in preventing the
spread of illness: Wet, Lather, Scrub, Rinse, Dry. The CDC also recom-
mends a time allotment for handwashing of 20 s (or singing the Happy
Birthday song, twice!) The reason that handwashing is so important is
because many highly contagious illnesses are easily spread by not washing
hands with soap and water.
Science behind handwashing
From the main page of CDC Handwashing, there is a tab in the bottom
half of the page titled “Show Me the Science”. Once readers click the link,
they will find a new page with three topics on it and should select “Why
CONTACT Alexis Hadaway [email protected] College of Medicine, Department of Graduate
Medical Education, Central Michigan University, 1000 Houghton Avenue, Saginaw, MI 48602, USA
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wchi.
Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Column Editor: Bethany Figg (
[email protected]).
ß 2020 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
44 A. HADAWAY
Wash Your Hands?” This will display information about the spread of ill-
ness, facts from around the world, and antibiotic resistance.
Spread of illness
Feces (both from people and animals) is the largest source of germs that
cause diarrhea and can spread respiratory infections. It is spread easily by
handling raw meats that have animal feces on them and then not immedi-
ately washing hands after handling. Germs are spread through membranous
cavities (eyes, nose and mouth) at a rapid rate and people are constantly
touching these cavities unconsciously throughout the day. Germs may also
spread through surfaces that have been touched by unwashed hands that
have touched feces. One large way to prevent the spread of germs is to
educate communities on the importance of hand washing and when to do
it. Studies by the CDC have shown that educating communities on the
importance of handwashing reduces the number of people who get sick
with diarrhea by 23–40%, diarrheal illness in people with weakened
immune symptoms by 58%, respiratory illnesses in the general population
by 16–21% and absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren
by 29–57% (Centers for Disease Control 2019a).
Around the world
The impact on lack of educating for handwashing as well as the lack of
handwashing has detrimental threats to children or people with weakened
immune systems across the world. Around 1.8 million children under the
age of five die every year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia.
Handwashing with soap can protect one out of every three young children
who get sick with diarrhea and one out of five young children with respira-
tory infections like pneumonia.
Antibiotic resistance
One factor that people do not consider when talking about the importance
of handwashing is how it impacts antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance
is caused from various factors, but the leading factor is the overuse of anti-
biotics. Antibiotic overuse is when antibiotics are used when they’re not
needed. Handwashing can prevent germs from being spread that are
antibiotic resistant and cannot be treated.
JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET 45
“Life is Better with Clean Hands” campaign
October 15th is National Handwashing Day so to commemorate the day,
while also raising awareness to the importance of handwashing, the CDC
launched a new campaign called “Life is Better with Clean Hands”. To access
more information about the campaign, a set of links along the left-hand side
of the CDC handwashing page is provided for users to select “Life is Better
with Clean Hands Campaign”. The motivation behind this campaign is to
remind adults that it is important to not only wash hands in the public set-
tings, but to also make sure they are practicing these techniques at home. In
addition, a lot of time is spent on teaching children about the importance of
handwashing, but there is neglect when it comes to reminding adults that it is
equally important for them to wash their hands. To spread awareness to this
new campaign, the CDC has created free downloadable posters and fact
sheets (see Figures 1 and 2) that are meant to be hung up in public settings to
encourage proper handwashing techniques.
Handwashing in the kitchen
On the left-hand side of the screen on the main page, readers will find a
link titled, “Handwashing: A Healthy Habit in the Kitchen”. Children are
often taught at a young age about the importance of washing their hands,
especially after using the bathroom and before or after eating, but there is
a certain lack of awareness when it comes to washing hands while cooking.
Because germs are spread so easily, especially from animal feces, it is
incredibly important to wash hands often while cooking in the kitchen in
order to prevent cross-contamination. The CDC recommends washing
hands during these key times:
Before, during and after preparing food;
After handling raw meat;
After using chemicals or other cleaning products;
After touching garbage;
After touching pets; and
After coughing or blowing your nose (Centers for Disease Control 2019b)
One myth that people believe is that they have less risk of spreading
germs if they wear gloves while in the kitchen. The gloves can be worn
during preparing or cooking food, cleaning the counters or dishes with
harsh chemicals, etc. Even though it is believed that the germs will not be
spread, they do have a chance of being spread when the gloves are
removed, leaving unseen germs on the hands. The CDC wants to remind
46 A. HADAWAY
Figure 1. Clean hands poster.
people that hands should be washed before and after wearing gloves to fur-
ther prevent the spread of germs.
Teaching youth about handwashing
On the left-hand side of the screen on the main page, readers will find a
link that says, “Handwashing: A Family Activity”. To create a healthy habit
of handwashing, education must happen at an early age to promote the
lifelong habit. Children must be taught about the key times to wash hands
JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET 47
Figure 2. Fact sheet for hand washing.
(before and after eating and after using the bathroom) as well as the five steps
of handwashing (wet, lather, scrub, rinse, repeat). A variety of activities can
be implemented to signify when it is time to wash hands, such as a fun game
or a song. Teaching children to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice while
washing their hands is a simple yet effective method of proper training.
Frequent reminders should be given to children about washing their
hands and it is also important for the adult to wash their hands at the
same time. The child will develop a connection between certain activities
48 A. HADAWAY
and handwashing, and they will follow by example. Once they start seeing
the importance of washing hands regularly, it will help to form a habit that
will last throughout their entire life (Centers for Disease Control 2019c).
Hand sanitizer versus handwashing
To access the information on hand sanitizer versus handwashing, users
must click on the link in the left side of the main screen titled “Show Me
the Science”. Next, they must click on the third link down in the middle of
the page titled “When and How to Use Hand Sanitizer”. While soap and
water are the most effective way to fight the spread of germs, there are
times when soap and water are not available to a person. That is where
hand sanitizer can play a crucial role in reducing the spread of germs.
Hand sanitizer is only effective in killing 99.9% of germs when the alcohol
content is above 60%. The other factor that needs to be in place for hand
sanitizer to work properly is that it needs to be used correctly. Every hand
sanitizer is different and the label will recommend the correct amount to use.
To be the most effective, sanitizer should be placed in the palm of one hand
with the correct amount, and hands should be rubbed vigorously until dry.
Hand sanitizer can be extremely useful when soap and water are not avail-
able to use, but there are a few dangers that come from using it incorrectly or
in place of soap and water too frequently. The first danger is that hand sani-
tizer becomes ineffective to killing germs when applied to hands that are
extremely dirty or greasy. The soiled hands have a layer of grime that is usu-
ally too much for hand sanitizer to penetrate. Another danger is the hand
sanitizer does not remove harmful chemicals from hands and should never
be used in place of soap and water. If a person is handling harmful chemicals,
like pesticides, using hand sanitizer will not remove or inactivate the chemi-
cals from entering the body. The last danger is that swallowing hand sanitizer
can cause alcohol poisoning. According to the CDC, between the years of
2011 and 2015, poison control centers in the U.S. received almost 85,000 calls
regarding children ingesting hand sanitizer (Centers for Disease Control
2019d). This is more common with targeted packaging with bright colored,
heavily scented hand sanitizers that often do not smell harsh like other clear
sanitizers. It is recommended that any hand sanitizers should be placed out
of reach of children as well as used with adult supervision. It is also recom-
mended to purchase the sanitizers that have child proofing packaging to elim-
inate the possibility of an accidental poisoning.
Video tutorial
On the left-hand side of the screen, there is a link titled “Health Promotion
Materials”. Users can click on that link and scroll down until they find the
JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET 49
“videos” link. Four different videos will pop up and the one that is refer-
enced in this article is the one in the bottom left corner. Even though it is
important to read the facts about the importance of handwashing, and
about the dangers that come from not washing hands, it is even more
important to watch someone doing it to know how to properly clean
hands. The CDC released a video series for the public to spread the word
on hand hygiene (Centers for Disease Control 2019e). These videos show
the five steps of washing hands as well as demonstrating washing hands for
an adequate time to ensure that all germs have been killed. Displaying these
videos to the public, more importantly children, could aid in the habit of
practicing hand washing to reduce the risk of germs being spread.
Conclusion
Hand washing is the single most important action to prevent the spread of
illness and to keep a person healthy. It reduces the risk of becoming anti-
biotic resistant or becoming extremely ill and can be done in 20 s. Most
adults know how to wash their hands and the importance of it, so the
youth need to be targeted to get into the healthy habit of washing their
hands after using the bathroom as well as before and after eating. While
hand sanitizers are helpful when there is no soap and water around, they
should not completely replace washing hands.
Alexis Hadaway, BS, MPH Candidate ([email protected]) is in the Graduate
Medical Education, Department of Central Michigan University College of Medicine, 1000
Houghton Avenue, Saginaw, MI 48602.
References
Centers for Disease Control. 2019a. “When and How to Wash Your Hands.” Accessed
December 9, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html.
Centers for Disease Control. 2019b. “Handwashing: A Healthy Habit in the Kitchen.”
Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/handwashing-kitchen.
html.
Centers for Disease Control. 2019c. “Handwashing: A Family Activity.” Accessed December
9, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/handwashing-family.html.
Centers for Disease Control. 2019d. “Show Me the Science – When & How to Use Hand
Sanitizer in Community Settings.” Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/
handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html
Centers for Disease Control. 2019e. “Videos.” Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www.cdc.
gov/handwashing/videos.html.
