Most of us don’t pay attention to how we wash our hands. We usually miss spots and take shortcuts. We can do better!
Learn the right way to wash your hands. Wash them properly every time. And teach everyone in your family these steps to proper handwashing:
You come in contact with the stool or blood of a person who currently has the disease
If you aren't near a sink, wash your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Put a blob of cleaner in your palm. Use about a half a teaspoon (3 ml).
Rub your hands together as the cleaner dries. Rub all over: between your fingers, the backs of your hands, under your fingernails.
Keep rubbing your hands until they are dry.
If you can see dirt on your hands, hand sanitizer won't work. You'll need to wash your hands at the sink, with soap.
Carry hand sanitizer with you. Use it when you can’t wash your hands in a sink.
Handwashing tips
Before you wash your hands, take off any jewellery.
When you wash with soap, use regular liquid soap. You don’t need antibacterial soap to remove dirt and germs. In fact, using antibiotics when they aren’t needed can lead to antibiotic resistance
– that's when germs get stronger and harder to kill.
Use moisturizer on your hands. Washing your hands can dry out your skin. If your skin is dry, it can develop small cracks, where germs can hide.
So put moisturizer on your hands after cleaning them.
When to wash your hands
Before and after you eat
Before, during and after you prepare food
After you use the bathroom or change diapers
After you blow your nose, sneeze or cough
Before and after taking care of someone who is sick
After touching animals, their toys, leashes, or waste (poop)
After touching something that could be dirty (garbage can, dirty rags, etc.)
Before and after you clean a wound, give medicine or insert contact lenses
Whenever your hands look dirty
Handwashing when someone at home is sick
When someone in your home is sick, it's extra important to wash your hands properly. Make sure everyone in the home washes their hands properly and often. Give the sick person her own hand towel to dry her hands; no one else should use her towel. Put out clean hand towels every day: one for the sick person, another for the healthy people. Or use disposable hand towels.