So who’s doing well when it comes to hand hygiene, who’s not — and why does it matter?
What did the report find?
Once again, women do better than men at washing their hands after using the toilet, although only slightly (80 per cent of men say they do every time, versus 83 per cent of women). Just 55 per cent of men wash their hands before touching food, compared to 62 per cent of women.
Although some of these differences aren’t completely unexpected — such as the gap between men’s and women’s hand-washing habits — the reasons remain unclear.
Why don’t people wash their hands?
Interestingly, the inability to see germs with their own eyes was one of the biggest barriers, cited by 46 per cent of the children. But 72 per cent said they would wash their hands if their friends did.
Young people were less likely to have clean hands on exiting the bathroom, the survey found. Source: Getty / Majority World/Universal Images
It’s tempting to speculate these reasons may also apply to other age groups, but we simply haven’t done enough research to know. People’s reasons for hand washing, or not, likely vary across their lifetime and with their circumstances.
What are the risks?
You may not get sick yourself, but you’re increasing the spread of bacteria. This can increase the risk of infection and illness for other people, including those with compromised immune systems such as older people and those undergoing common forms of treatment for cancer.
In the other direction, some foods naturally carry germs before cooking — such as salmonella and campylobacter bacteria in raw poultry. If you don’t wash your hands after handling these foods you may transfer them to other surfaces and risk spreading infection.
How should I wash my hands?
Follow these three simple tips for hand washing correctly:
- Wet your hands and rub them together well to build up a good lather with soap for at least 20 seconds and don’t forget to wash between your fingers and under your nails. You might have to use a nail brush
- Rinse well under running water to remove the bugs from your hands
- Dry your hands thoroughly on a clean towel for at least 20 seconds. Touching surfaces with moist hands encourages bugs to spread from the surface to your hands.
What about hand sanitiser?
However if your hands are soiled with organic matter — such as blood, faeces, meat, sand or soil — they won’t be effective. In that case, you should clean your hands with soap and water.
The bottom line
Christine Carson is a senior research fellow at the University of Western Australia’s School of Medicine.
