America's
Clean Hands Report Card(SM) - Can't Rise Above 'C' Level
|
Our Latest Grade: C-Minus - More
Education Needed, Says SDA
Clean Hands Week September 17-23 is Time to
Take a Refresher Course in
Hygiene
WASHINGTON,
Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The increased prevalence of
contagious skin infections, the threat
of pandemic flu and the upcoming
cold season prompted The Soap
and Detergent Association (SDA) to issue its
second Clean Hands Report Card(SM),
giving America
a "C-minus," a downgrade
from 2004, when the country
received a "C."
"It's more important than ever that
people understand that clean hands
save lives," said Nancy
Bock, SDA Vice President of Education. "It's the
places we're at everyday where we
need to protect ourselves the most -- at
home, at work and at school --
anywhere we come in contact with other
people's germs."
Among the findings of SDA's
2006 National Cleaning Survey:
* 68% of respondents don't wash their hands
long enough to effectively
remove germs and
dislodge dirt (worsened from 54% in 2004).
The Centers
for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and SDA recommend washing with
soap for at
least 20 seconds.
* 36% surveyed seldom or never wash their
hands after coughing or sneezing
(slightly
improved from 43% in 2004). One of the
most common ways
people catch
colds is by rubbing their nose or eyes after touching
someone or
something contaminated with the cold virus.
* 31% don't always wash before eating lunch
(similar to 2004). That means
germs that come
from money, door handles and the lunch counter could
attract more
bugs than just ants to the picnic.
SDA (http://www.cleaning101.com)
produced the Report Card to raise
awareness of National Clean Hands
Week (September 17-23), a national health
campaign that touts handwashing as the easiest path to staying healthy. The
Report Card surveyed
Americans on basic hand hygiene practices, such as
washing before a meal, after using
the bathroom, and after coughing or
sneezing. The Report Card not only
measured how often Americans wash daily,
but for how long, and revealed
perceptions of hand hygiene. (A summary of
the Survey's other findings are
available at
http://www.cleaning101.com/handhygiene).
More Education Needed
According to the CDC, cleaning our hands is
the single most important
thing we can do to keep from
getting sick and spreading illness to others.
Of those surveyed by SDA,
only 50% believe that hand washing is the number
one way to prevent colds and
flu. And, 31% of respondents wash their hands
fewer than seven times on an
average day.
Ninety-two percent of Americans surveyed
said they always washed their
hands after using the bathroom,
while five percent said they frequently
washed, and three percent said
they seldom or never washed. There may be a
major gap between what people say
and what they do.
A 2005 observational study commissioned by
SDA and the American Society
for Microbiology found that
just 83% of people washed their hands after
using a public restroom.
Refresher course on proper hand hygiene!
How-to Wash Your Hands to Effectively
Remove Germs
1. Wet hands with warm running water prior
to reaching for the soap,
either in bar
or liquid form.
2. Rub hands together to make a lather. Do this away from running water,
so the lather
isn't washed away.
3. Wash
the front and back of your hands, between your fingers and under
the nails.
Continue washing for 20 seconds or more.
4. Rinse hands well under warm running
water.
5. Dry hands thoroughly with a clean towel
or air dryer.
6. Alcohol based hand sanitizers or gels or
wipes are useful alternatives
if soap and
water are not available (for example, when traveling in the
car or taxi on
the way to a business meeting, before eating an in-
flight meal or
snack, outdoor work settings, etc.)
While routine hand washing is recommended
throughout the day, according
to SDA, hand washing is vital:
* before preparing
food;
* when eating
meals and snacks;
* after using the
restroom;
* after touching
animals;
* when hands are
dirty; and
* when you or
someone around you is ill.
SDA, which has been educating the public
about health and hygiene
issues since 1926, offers a range
of resources for parents, educators, and
students at its website: http://www.cleaning101.com.
The Clean Hands Report Card(SM) was based
on a survey of 1008 American
adults (508 men and 500 women).
The independent consumer research study was
completed in August-September 2006,
on behalf of The Soap and Detergent
Association
(SDA), by International Communications Research (ICR). The
survey has a margin of error of
plus or minus 3.1 percent.
The Soap and Detergent Association (http://www.cleaning101.com), the
U.S. Home of the Cleaning
Products Industry(SM), is the non-profit trade
association representing manufacturers
of household, industrial, and
institutional cleaning products; their
ingredients; and finished packaging;
and oleochemical
producers. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the
cleaning products marketed in the U.S. The SDA is
located at 1500 K Street,
NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC
20005.
SOURCE The Soap and Detergent Association
