HANDWASHING + SOAP: A LIFE-SAVING FORMULA
 

Every year, diarrhea and acute respiratory infections cause the death of more than 3.5 million children under five. These figures could be cut dramatically if handwashing with soap were widely practiced.

The global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) works to save children’s lives by promoting the awareness of this simple practice.  The partnership is guided by the following principles:
 

• These deaths are preventable

Research shows that, if widely practiced, handwashing with soap could reduce diarrhea by almost fifty percent and respiratory infections by nearly twenty-five percent.  

• Handwashing with soap is a right

Every child has a right to vaccination and should also have the right to protection from hand-transmitted diseases.

• Large-scale changes in handwashing practices can be achieved

A large-scale increase in the practice of handwashing with soap would make a significant contribution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths among children under five by two-thirds by 2015.