If everyone in the world washed their hands properly, a million lives could be saved a year.
This most simple of acts remains beyond the reach of millions of families around the world, and it’s putting their lives on the line. In 2019, three billion people lacked access to a handwashing facility with soap and water, including three quarters of those living in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, one in three health care facilities do not have hand hygiene facilities at points of care.
Staggeringly, if world leaders don’t continue to invest in handwashing, we risk continuing to see more than a million children under five years old dying unnecessarily every single year.
It’s a stark warning. Thoroughly cleaning hands with soap or an alcohol-based hand rub helps prevent a range of diseases, including the biggest killers of under-fives globally: pneumonia and diarrhoea. These two diseases combined kill approximately 1,250,000 young children each year.