Simple hygiene can stem infectious diseases: Expert

A health survey has found that only 19 percent of people from the Gulf region wash their hands with soap more than six times a day.
“Simple hygiene measures such as washing hands with soap after using the toilet and before preparing food help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Most of the Gulf people wash their hands regularly and keep their homes clean, but only 19 percent of the population wash their hands with soap more than six times a day,” Professor Tariq Ahmed Madani, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at King Abdulaziz University’s Faculty of Medicine in Jeddah told Arab News.
“While women, tidy people, students and people under 35 in the Middle East, are more diligent in their approach, other groups like men, people over 65, critical people and manual workers need more encouragement to improve hygiene standards,” added Madani, also former advisor to the Ministry of Health and member of the Global Hygiene Council.
He stressed the need for intensive hygiene education programs to significantly help reduce infectious illnesses across the Middle East.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Arab Hygiene Council, which is an active extension of the Global Hygiene Council, in Dubai on Tuesday.
“The main objective of the Arab Hygiene Council is to develop hygiene standards across the region by bringing together key opinion leaders and decision makers on a common platform,” Madani added.
“This regional hygiene council is a new idea and I hope representatives from the GCC will join in the council soon. People are not aware of hand hygiene and cleaning. In future, the council will train people to maintain good hygiene,” he added.
“Hand hygiene is very important. This is the primary thing to prevent infectious diseases. Another one is kitchen cleaning. We conducted a worldwide study and found that the kitchen is the worst part of the house in terms of microbial contamination. In some cases, the kitchen is more contaminated than the toilet.”
While presenting the Middle East findings, he said that a survey held in January 2011 among 500 adults from Saudi Arabia and 503 in the UAE indicated that 36 percent wash their hands with soap three to four times a day in the Gulf, 31 percent wash hands with soap five to six times per day, 19 percent wash their hands with soap more than six times a day, 12 percent wash their hands with soap one to two times per day, and 3 percent don’t wash their hands with soap at all.
Meanwhile, Reckitt Benckiser Arabia announced the launch of the Arab Hygiene Council at a press briefing in Dubai yesterday. Elaborating on the role of the Arab Hygiene Council, Frank M. Koch, Middle East marketing director for Reckitt Benckiser said: “The launch of the Arab Hygiene Council is a milestone toward achieving our objective of building healthier communities across the Middle East.”
Reiterating the importance of hygiene, Professor John Oxford, chairman of the Hygiene Council and professor of virology at Queen Mary College, said: “Poor hygiene has been a contributory factor in the global spread of pathogens such as norovirus, Helicobacter Pylori, Staphylococcus Aureus, Legionella and Campylobacter. Hygiene is therefore important as a first line defense against the spread of pathogens in people’s everyday environments.”
He further stated that results from the Dettol HABIT study showed only 28 percent of the overall survey population wash their hands with soap more than six times a day and 2 percent do not wash their hands with soap at all. Thirty percent of Indians, 22 percent Chinese, 21 percent Malaysians, 18 percent Middle Easterners, 14 percent South Africans, 13 percent French, 8 percent of Australians, Canadians, Germans and British and 7 percent from the US all admitted that hand washing is not a priority for them.
The study further states that 5 percent who never wash their hands after using the toilet have had more than 14 days off work due to infectious illnesses in the last year, which is more than double the global average of 2 percent.
Sixty-three percent who use a surface cleaner more than six times a week have had no days off work for infectious illnesses in the last year, compared to 57 percent of those who use surface cleaner less than six times per week.