Global Hand Washing Day: A Reflection on Water, Soap, and Infrastructure

October 15 marks Global Hand Washing Day. Below, Elizabeth Campa, director of WASH and Protection programming at Zanmi Lasante, our sister organization in Haiti, reflects on the importance of water, soap, and infrastructure in low-resource settings.

Wash your hands with soap! Stop the spread of germs! Lather up for a cause! I can say all these messages in six languages. Sound trivial? It isn't.

Hand washing with soap is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections. Millions of children in developing countries die each year from these preventable diseases. Even though we know this, and even though we fully grasp how hand washing with soap can save lives, promoting hand washing with soap is often difficult—and impossible if services aren’t even available. Why?

In Haiti, many of the communities we work in do not have access to potable water—wells, natural springs, and other sources—and they do not have adequate sanitation in their homes, which leads to open defecation and the spread of disease into water sources and the environment. Exactly four years ago this week, the first cases of cholera came to the clinics of Zanmi Lasante in the Central Plateau. More than 8,000 people have since died from cholera and nearly 1 million have been affected by it.

Meanwhile, children encounter a whole host of unique challenges as they attend classes in schools with no access to water, sanitation, or soap for hand washing. Imagine having to relieve yourself in an open field or along a river bed. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of children in Haiti and millions of children around the world.

If more individuals have the resources and tools to build hand washing with soap into their daily habits, countless lives can be saved.

Zanmi Lasante is promoting hand washing with soap before eating and after using a toilet as part of its WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) programs in the Central Plateau. With the support of UNICEF, we are working toward improving access to WASH facilities in homes and schools so that thousands of children can lead healthier lives. If more individuals have the resources and tools to build hand washing with soap into their daily habits, countless lives can be saved.

By increasing the number of schools and communities with access to safe toilets, potable water, and soap, and by promoting good hygiene, we are making a difference and saving lives.

On this Global Hand Washing Day, it is encouraging to know that we have forged partnerships with the government of Haiti and the communities we serve to help amplify this important message. One hand washing station, one toilet, and one hygiene lesson at a time, we will continue to improve access to these lifesaving resources that so many of us take for granted.

It is not easy, and we have a long way to go. But we are confident that one day soon the people of Haiti may also live in a world free from death by preventable diseases.