Child Health
We understand the critical impact of hygiene on children's health. Part of our mission is to enhance public health through education and awareness, focusing on the youngest in our communities.
Diarrhoea and pneumonia are responsible for millions of missed school days and approximately 30% of childhood deaths globally.1 Building healthy hygiene habits in children is essential for their development and overall health, offering protection against these common infections. Central to this is educating children on the significance of hand hygiene, including the proper techniques and timing for handwashing, which is essential for promoting their health and wellbeing.
Our behaviour change global research programme, involving children aged 5 to 11 years and their parents and teachers, allowed us to uncover key barriers to improving hand and surface hygiene practices. The insights collected through this research programme are vital for developing effective educational programmes aimed at enhancing hygiene among children.
Simple measures, such as covering the mouth when coughing, hand washing or using a hand sanitiser, and keeping food preparation areas hygienically clean, can have a huge impact on paediatric health and the incidence of diarrhoea, cold, flu, pneumonia and gastrointestinal infections.
Learn more and explore our resources:
GHC Behaviour Change Research – BMCPublic Health (external website)
Small Steps for Big Change: Reduce preventable infections and improve the health of children worldwide.
References:
- Walker CLF, et al. Global burden of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea. Lancet. 2013;381(9875):1405–1416.
- Wang Z, et al. The effect of hand-hygiene interventions on infectious disease-associated absenteeism in elementary schools: A systematic literature review. Am J Infect Control. 2017;45:682–689.
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The GHC enters partnerships with governments, academic institutions, leading health experts, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), non-profit organisations and healthcare organisations to help drive tangible and meaningful hygiene policy and behaviour change at both a local and global level.