With the release of the updated HTM 01-05 government guidelines and also the outbreak of swine flu H1N1 virus, the risk of cross infection in the dental practice is big news.
And this Thursday (15 October) Global Handwashing Day will be flagging up the importance of good hand hygiene with an unusual event – the Golden Poo awards.
The Golden Poo awards is one of a number of UK activities taking place on Thursday in support of Global Handwashing Day – a campaign across five continents, which aims to mobilise millions of people to wash their hands with soap.
Handwashing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways of preventing diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for the deaths of more than 3.5 million children every year in the developing world.
The Global Handwashing Day poster
Handwashing with soap is equally important in the UK, yet few people wash their hands at critical moments – after going to the toilet, cleaning a child, or before preparing or eating food.
This red-carpet event is being held at the Prince Charles cinmea in London’s West End and is hosted by celebrity medic and comedian Dr Phil Hammond.
The show will feature six short animated films about hygiene and the taboo subject of ‘poo’. An audience vote will decide the Number One and Number Two films, and the winning artists will be presented with coveted Golden Poo awards!
The selected films have been short-listed from a competition set up by PooP Creative and The London International Animation Festival.
In addition, two International Golden Poo awards will also be awarded – Hygiene Champion and Sanitation Champion – to celebrate those who have made outstanding contributions to improving sanitation and good hygiene practice around the world.
Dr Val Curtis, director of the hygiene centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: ‘We need to talk about poo. Poo shouldn’t be taboo because poo kills 5,000 children a day. The Golden Poo awards recognises those heroes who fight poo on a daily basis in their work promoting hygiene and sanitation around the world.’
For more details, visit www.globalhandwashingday.org.uk.
How dirty are YOU?
More than one in four people have faecal matter on their hands! Britain’s 12 million cases of norovirus, gastroenteritis, MRSA, E-Coli and now Swine Flu infections are mainly down to dirty hands.
(London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
