Wash your hands, it’s easy
Germs like bacteria and viruses a part of our everyday lives and there are multiple ways of spreading them. Our hands spread around 80% of all contagious diseases. This includes colds, the flu, COVID-19 and stomach bugs. Furthermore, according to the WHO, worldwide 1,000 children, under the age of five, die on a daily basis due to a lack of hygiene and contaminated water. Proper and regular handwashing with both soap and water helps disrupting the infection chain and is a vital hygiene measure to protect oneself from such infections.
Our initiative
Launch of the “Wash your hands – it’s easy” campaign at the children’s hospital in Dortmund, Germany (c) Vera Dammberg
The earlier children get to know correct hygiene measures the quicker they will turn into routine. This is why we, the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants and the Neven Subotic Foundation, started the initiative Wash your hands – it’s easy in order to promote proper hand hygiene amongst children and adolescents. The activity was launched in October 2017 at the children’s hospital in Dortmund, Germany.
Besides our own campaign, we collaborate with kindergartens, schools, and health and education ministries to approach the children and to raise awareness for effective handwashing.
Join our campaign Wash your hands – it’s easy and become an ambassador for hand hygiene!
How to join
- Join forces: brainstorm with colleagues/parents how hand hygiene can be promoted in your institution. Please consult our toolkit for ideas and suggestions.
- Print our free materials and put them up in common rooms, class rooms, or bath rooms – anywhere where they can be seen easily.
- Set up an event about hand hygiene and share our posters and other materials.
- We would be thrilled to get a short summary of your event and activities to share it on our website. Please send an e-mail to: info@efcni.org.
Our materials
We are happy to provide various printable materials free of charge addressing children, adolescents and adults likewise. Developing and providing these materials is the result of a long creative working process involving many individuals. It is an investment of both EFCNI and the Neven Subotic Foundation. We therefore kindly ask you to respect the copyright regulations when using our materials:
- please do not change the design of any of the materials provided
- please do not delete any logos on the materials
- please do not use the material for any commercial purposes
