Washing hands with soap, the right way

Why soap Washed in water alone, hands look clean but many germs stay. Soap lather loosens dirt and germs, and the water carries them away. That is how many illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, jaundice, colds and coughs are cut down.

The steps - Wet your hands with clean water. - Take enough soap to cover the whole hand. Bar or liquid, either will do. - Scrub for at least 20 seconds: both palms, the backs of the hands, between the fingers, the thumbs and under the nails. For children, slowly counting to twenty in their head or saying a short rhyme twice works well. - Rinse well in clean water. - Dry on a clean cloth or in the air. Not everyone on the same wet gamchha.

When to wash - Before eating, and before cooking and serving food - Before feeding a child, or before breastfeeding - After using the toilet, and after cleaning a child's bottom - After sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose - After touching animals, rubbish or raw fish and meat - Before and after caring for someone who is ill - Whenever your hands look dirty

With no tap Keep covered water in a bucket or large bottle with a small hole or a tap at the bottom, and hang a bar of soap on a string beside it. Washing under flowing water is best; not everyone dipping hands in the same basin. Put it near the toilet and the kitchen, where it reminds people.

Sanitiser When hands look clean and there is no soap and water, an alcohol-based sanitiser helps, but it does not work well on dirty hands. Soap and water is best when you can. If a child uses sanitiser, an adult watches.