School Children
As parents lovingly pack their little ones off to school, the national health and hygiene concerns are still top of the agenda.
New research from SCA (one of the world’s leading hygiene and tissue paper companies) has revealed that despite government campaigns to improve the nation’s hygiene over a third (34.3%) of Brits are still are not washing their hands regularly enough.
The research also found that parents aren’t paying due care and attention to their children’s hands. SCA’s research highlights a worrying lack of understanding about the importance of personal hygiene amongst parents.
Results showed only a fifth (21%) of parents ensures their child’s hands are washed before eating, despite the well-known fact that washing hands before and after eating can really help to reduce the risk of illness.
Commenting on the results, expert on communicable diseases, Professor Norman Noah from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explained: 'Children’s hands can be especially dirty, and at school they are more likely to pick up infections; as well as transmit them to others, including adults. Good hand hygiene is therefore essential so it’s so important for parents to teach their children good habits by school age at the latest.'
As un-washed hands play such a key part in the transmission of bacteria, SCA and Professor Norman Noah have created the following top tips to help improve your child’s hygiene habits:
- When your child should wash their hands:
- After travelling to and from school on public transport
- Before and after eating school or packed lunches
- After playing games or sport
- After sneezing and blowing noses
- After going to the toilet
How to develop your child’s hygiene habits:
- Be a role model, wash your and your child’s hands at the same time and teach them how to wash their hands properly; use soap, water, and a clean disposable towel. Wash palms and all fingers especially the tips
- Children are naturally poor at hand washing teach them from as early an age as possible. Concentrate first on doing so after toilet, before eating or touching food and after playing in the garden. Show them how to do it properly, with soap and water. The earlier the training commences the more the routine becomes ingrained
- Make a game of it, pretend to smell their hands and make a nice or nasty face as you think fit
- Make it easy for your children to reach the sink. Place a stool near any low sinks
- Make hand-washing fun. Buy bright and colourful soaps or even a rubber duck to play with in the sink while getting washed up
- Reward your children every time they successfully initiate hand hygiene
The results are part of SCA’s ‘Hygiene Matters’ research* which was commissioned to provide a greater understanding of personal hygiene methods and behaviours worldwide.
Key findings from the report:
- 72% of the UK believes that children should be able to play and get a little dirty without having to worry about hygiene
- Only a quarter (27.1%) of the UK wash their hands after travelling on public transport, which is particularly concerning given the recent study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which found that over a quarter (27%) of commuters had faecal bacteria on their hands
- Less than half the UK population (44.4%) wash their hands after sneezing or blowing their nose. This figure is slightly higher for London where 57.1% of people do so, whilst those in Wales are the nation’s least likely with only 32.7%
- Whilst 93.2% of people claim to wash their hands after using public toilets, the results also show that only 8.3% of people believe others actually do wash their hands after using the toilet