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Knowledge and practices of handwashing ‘abysmally poor’: study

Agencies
October 12, 2017

Kochi, Oct 12: Knowledge and practices of handwashing associated with childcare tasks is abysmally poor in rural India, a new study released to mark Global Handwashing Day has said.

According to WaterAid India’s new study ‘Spotlight on handwashing in rural India’, handwashing with soap at five critical times – after defecation, after cleaning a child’s bottom, before feeding infants/children, before eating and before food preparation, are estimated to reduce diarrhoeal diseases by 47 per cent.

The study examined the levels of awareness about practices related to hand hygiene behaviour in rural households in four states– Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha.

While handwashing after defecation and before eating is high in general, hygiene practices among surveyed individuals having a child under five in their home was low.

“Only 26.3 per cent washed hands before child feeding, 14.7 per cent before breastfeeding, 16.7 per cent after disposing child faeces, and 18.4 per cent after cleaning a child’s bottom,” the study said It said only 12.6 per cent people wash hands before feeding their child.

The study noted that in 2015, an estimated 321 children died everyday due to diarrhoea, the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five in India.

Hygiene behaviours are critical to prevent leading causes of death and diseases in children, particularly diarrhoea among children under the age of five, it said. Hand hygiene, particularly, handwashing with soap, is recognised as a highly cost-effective public health intervention, having the potential to significantly reduce disease burden, according to the study.

The report aims to inform and strengthen health and nutrition related policies and is being released to mark Global Handwashing Day on October 15, a day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap.

WaterAid India’s Policy Manager, Arundati Muralidharan, said “handwashing is underrated and often forgotten when we talk about water, sanitation and hygiene.”

“It is a simple and cost-effective intervention that can play a critical role in battling the pressing child health problems in our country,” Muralidharan said in a release.

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Agencies
July 14,2020

UN, Jul 14: There will be no return to the "old normal" for the foreseeable future as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and too many countries were still headed in the wrong direction, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.

"The virus remains public enemy number one, but the actions of many governments and people do not reflect this," Xinhua news agency quoted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at as saying a regular briefing on Monday.

He noted that mixed messages from leaders are undermining trust, which is the most critical ingredient of any response, while the only aim of the virus is to find people to infect.

Things are going to "get worse and worse and worse", he warned, unless governments communicate clearly with their citizens and roll out a comprehensive strategy focused on suppressing transmission and saving lives, while populations follow the basic public health principles of physical distancing, hand washing, wearing masks, coughing etiquette and staying home when sick.

COVID-19 has been gaining its momentum lately.

According to Tedros, Sunday saw a record of 230,000 cases reported to WHO, of which almost 80% were from just 10 countries and about half from just two countries.

"But it does not have to be this way," he said, asking every single leader, government and individual "to do their bit to break the chains of COVID-19 transmission and end the collective suffering".

To control the disease and get on with people's lives, Tedros said, three things are required. The first is to focus on reducing mortality and suppressing transmission; the second is to focus on an empowered, engaged community that takes individual behaviour measures in the interest of each other.

And the third is a strong government leadership and coordination of comprehensive strategies that are communicated clearly and consistently.

"We weren't prepared collectively, but we must use all the tools we have to bring this pandemic under control. And we need to do it right now," he added.

At the WHO briefing on Monday, health experts also said there was evidence to suggest that children under the age of 10 were only very mildly affected by Covid-19, while those over 10 seemed to suffer similar mild symptoms to young adults.

To what extent children can transmit the virus, while it appears to be low, remains unknown.

On Tuesday, the number of global coronavirus cases cross the 13 million mark, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The total number of cases currently stood at 13,070,097, while the fatalities rose to 572,411, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 3,363,056 and 135,605, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 1,884,967 infections and 72,833 deaths.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 3: A new study has found out that diet significantly affects the mental health and well being of an individual.

The study was published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.

"We have found that there is increasing evidence of a link between a poor diet and the worsening of mood disorders, including anxiety and depression. However, many common beliefs about the health effects of certain foods are not supported by solid evidence," said the lead researcher, Professor Suzanne Dickson.

According to the researchers, the link between diet and mental health can be firmly established in certain cases like that of the ability of a ketogenic diet being helpful for children with epilepsy and the impact of vitamin B12 deficiency on poor memory, depression and fatigue.

"With individual conditions, we often found very mixed evidence. With ADHD for example, we can see an increase in the quantity of refined sugar in the diet seems to increase ADHD and hyperactivity, whereas eating more fresh fruit and vegetables seems to protect against these conditions," said Dickson

But there are comparatively few studies, and many of them don't last long enough to show long-term effects," added Dickson.

The study further concludes that some food items can be associated with treatment and the betterment of certain mental health conditions.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing a report that suggested its advice on the novel coronavirus needs updating after some scientists told the New York Times there was evidence the virus could be spread by tiny particles in the air.

The WHO says the Covid-19 disease spreads primarily through small droplets, which are expelled from the nose and mouth when an infected person breaths them out in coughs, sneezes, speech or laughter and quickly sink to the ground.

In an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined the evidence they say shows that smaller exhaled particles can infect people who inhale them, the newspaper said on Saturday.

Because those smaller particles can linger in the air longer, the scientists - who plan to publish their findings in a scientific journal this week - are urging WHO to update its guidance, the Times said.

"We are aware of the article and are reviewing its contents with our technical experts," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in an email reply on Monday to a Reuters request for comment.

The extent to which the coronavirus can be spread by the so-called airborne or aerosol route - as opposed to by larger droplets in coughs and sneezes - remains disputed.

Any change in the WHO's assessment of the risk of transmission could affect its current advice on keeping one-metre physical distancing. Governments, which also rely on the agency for guidance policy, may also have to adjust public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

"Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence," Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO's technical lead for infection prevention and control, was quoted as saying in the New York Times.

WHO guidance to health workers, dated June 29, says that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and on surfaces.

But airborne transmission via smaller particles is possible in some circumstances, such as when performing intubation and aerosol-generating procedures, it says.

Medical workers performing such procedures should wear heavy-duty N95 respiratory masks and other protective equipment in an adequately ventilated room, the WHO says.

Officials at South Korea's Centers for Disease Control said on Monday they were continuing to discuss various issues about Covid-19, including the possible airborne transmission. They said more investigations and evidence were needed.

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