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Essay on Good Health and Hygiene: The Impact of Environmental Factors and Social Determinants



Despite COVID-19 putting the spotlight on the importance of hand hygiene to prevent the spread of disease, three billion people worldwide, including hundreds of millions of school-going children, do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap. People living in rural areas, urban slums, disaster-prone areas and low-income countries are the most vulnerable and the most affected.




essay on good health and hygiene



The consequences of unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) on children can be deadly. Over 700 children under age 5 die every day of diarrhoeal diseases due to lack of appropriate WASH services. In areas of conflict, children are nearly 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal disease than from the conflict itself.


Nearly half of all schools do not have basic hygiene services, with1 in 3 primary schools lacking basic sanitation and water. Children who cannot wash their hands face a greater risk of infection and diarrhoeal disease than those who can, putting them at risk of missing more school days.


Without water, sanitation and hygiene services, mothers and newborns may not receive the quality of care they need to survive and thrive. When health-care facilities are equipped with safe WASH services, members of the community are more likely to visit them, and health workers are able to model good sanitation and hygiene practices.


As of 2019, UNICEF has been working in over 80 countries to improve access to WASH in health-care facilities. Our work focuses on technical assistance to governments for the construction and rehabilitation of WASH infrastructure, as well as on developing national standards, policies and hygiene protocols for WASH in health-care facilities.


In partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF works with governments to implement and monitor the Eight Practical Steps to universal access to WASH and the commitments made by governments to implement the Resolution on WASH in health-care facilities.


UNICEF works in over 100 countries to help provide access to clean water and reliable sanitation, and to promote basic hygiene practices in rural and urban areas, including in emergency situations. We achieve better WASH results for children by:


We work directly with schools and health-care facilities to improve access to basic water, sanitation and handwashing facilities, and to establish protocols for preventing and controlling infections. We support menstrual health and hygiene in schools by constructing private, secure sanitation and washing facilities as well as menstrual pad disposal facilities. We also provide education and support services that help more girls better manage their menstruation cycle.


In keeping with our Core Commitments for Children, UNICEF has mobilized teams and resources in a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We procure supplies for infection prevention and control, and work closely with governments to provide guidance to communities, health-care providers and education practitioners.


Every day, you come into contact with millions of outside germs and viruses. They can linger on your body, and in some cases, they may make you sick. Personal hygiene practices can help you and the people around you prevent illnesses. They can also help you feel good about your appearance.


Good personal hygiene habits are directly related to less illnesses and better health. Poor personal hygiene habits, however, can lead to some minor side effects, like body odor and greasy skin. They can also lead to more troublesome or even serious issues.


Building good personal hygiene habits takes a lifetime of learning and honing. Caring for yourself in these manners is good for your physical health as well as your mental health. If you find it difficult to adapt to these practices, talk with your doctor or dentist.


Good personal hygiene habits include brushing your teeth, bathing or showering, and wearing clean clothes. Performing these habits daily or as often as needed achieves and maintains good hygiene and cleanliness.


There are no risks to practicing good hygiene. Poor hygiene, on the other hand, increases the risk for bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections. Serious medical conditions that can develop on behalf of poor hygiene include gastroenteritis, food poisoning, hepatitis A, influenza, common cold, giardiasis, roundworm, and threadworm. Good hygiene can help you avoid the possible risks associated with poor hygiene.


Practicing good hygiene requires you to perform a series of basic personal hygiene habits on a regular basis. Wash your body and hair often to remove bacteria and dead skin cells. Brush your teeth after every meal, or at least twice per day. Flossing and brushing regularly help prevent the accumulation of bacteria in the mouth that increases the risk for gum disease.


Good hygiene is critical for preventing the spread of infectious diseases and helping children lead long, healthy lives. It also prevents them from missing school, resulting in better learning outcomes.


Good hand hygiene is a highly cost-effective way of maintaining public health. It protects against a range of diseases, including pneumonia and diarrhoea. But estimates show that some three billion people do not have a handwashing facility with water and soap at home.


UNICEF also advocates for increased funding for hygiene activities globally. This includes fostering political leadership for hygiene at all levels and recruiting high-profile champions and political leaders as advocates.


Building on local knowledge and promoting positive traditional practices, we continue to develop new strategies and tools to improve key hygiene behaviours, while empowering communities to take their health and well-being into their own hands.


Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases."[2] Personal hygiene refers to maintaining the body's cleanliness. Hygiene activities can be grouped into the following: home and everyday hygiene, personal hygiene, medical hygiene, sleep hygiene and food hygiene. Home and every day hygiene includes hand washing, respiratory hygiene, food hygiene at home, hygiene in the kitchen, hygiene in the bathroom, laundry hygiene and medical hygiene at home.


Many people equate hygiene with 'cleanliness,' but hygiene is a broad term. It includes such personal habit choices as how frequently to take a shower or bath, wash hands, trim fingernails, and wash clothes. It also includes attention to keeping surfaces in the home and workplace clean, including bathroom facilities. Some regular hygiene practices may be considered good habits by the society, while the neglect of hygiene can be considered disgusting, disrespectful, or threatening.


Hygiene is a practice[3] related to lifestyle, cleanliness, health and medicine. In medicine and everyday life, hygiene practices are employed as preventive measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of germs leading to disease.


The terms cleanliness and hygiene are often used interchangeably, which can cause confusion. In general, hygiene refers to practices that prevent spread of disease-causing organisms. Cleaning processes (e.g., handwashing[1]) remove infectious microbes as well as dirt and soil, and are thus often the means to achieve hygiene.


Home hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices that prevent or minimize the spread of disease at home and other everyday settings such as social settings, public transport, the workplace, public places, etc.


Hygiene in a variety of settings plays an important role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases.[8] It includes procedures used in a variety of domestic situations such as hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, food and water hygiene, general home hygiene (hygiene of environmental sites and surfaces), care of domestic animals, and home health care (the care of those who are at greater risk of infection).


At present, these components of hygiene tend to be regarded as separate issues, although based on the same underlying microbiological principles. Preventing the spread of diseases means breaking the chain of infection transmission. Simply put, if the chain of infection is broken, infection cannot spread. "Targeted hygiene" is based on identifying the routes of pathogen spread in the home and introducing hygiene practices at critical times to break the chain of infection.[9] It is using a risk-based approach based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).


Good home hygiene means engaging in hygiene practices at critical points to break the chain of infection.[9][10] Because the "infectious dose" for some pathogens can be very small (10-100 viable units or even less for some viruses), and infection can result from direct transfer of pathogens from surfaces via hands or food to the mouth, nasal mucous or the eye, 'hygienic cleaning' procedures should be sufficient to eliminate pathogens from critical surfaces. 2ff7e9595c


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