New Study on Hand Hygiene: It is common to wash hands every time after using the toilet. Hand hygiene is very important for health, because if dirt and germs accumulate on the hands, it can increase the risk of diseases. A report from Australia has revealed a very surprising thing. It has been found that Australians are lagging behind in terms of hand hygiene. Young Australians are not serious about hand hygiene. This is increasing the risk of diseases. Everyone needs to know about this research.

According to The Conversation report, a recent report by Australia's Food Safety Information Council has revealed something shocking. It has been found that about 19 percent of Australians do not wash their hands every time after using the toilet. Not only this, about 42 percent of people do not wash their hands even before handling food. Hand hygiene is very important for health. According to health experts, urine and feces contain millions of germs. When you use the toilet and touch surfaces in the bathroom, these germs stick to your hands. This increases the risk of many types of infections.

In the new report, the hand washing habits of 1229 people were surveyed. It was found that women perform better in washing their hands after the toilet than men, although the difference is not very high. 80 percent of men and 83 percent of women claim to wash their hands every time. Talking about washing hands before eating, 55 percent of men in Australia wash their hands before eating, while this number is 62 percent among women. Age can also be a reason for the change in hand-washing habits. 69 percent of people under the age of 34 wash their hands every time after using the toilet, while this number increases to 86 percent in people over 65 years of age.

It is important to wash hands before cooking.

It is also important to wash hands before cooking and eating. If there are disease-causing germs on your hands, they reach the food items. This can make people who eat the food sick. Often problems like vomiting and diarrhea are seen due to this. Some foods like raw chicken contain salmonella and campylobacter bacteria. If you do not wash your hands after handling these things, you spread them on other surfaces. This increases the risk of many types of infections. Special care should be taken of hand hygiene in case of non-vegetarian foods like chicken.

How to wash your hands for hand hygiene?

The right way to wash hands is easy. First, wet your hands and rub them well with soap for 20 seconds. During this, do not forget to wash the thumb, between the fingers, and under the nails. After this, wash your hands thoroughly under running water and dry them thoroughly with a clean towel. If you do not have water, then use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. This can remove many types of germs from the hands. However, after touching things like chicken, you should wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, not sanitizer.