High cost of dirty hands

Children having time off sick from school due to poor hygiene practice

Almost one in three children, (30%), are missing up to a fortnight of school due to illness that could be prevented by good hygiene practice, says a new study.

 In the majority of cases (61%) the children were suffering from common colds, flu and sickness bugs and diarrhoea, all of which are easily avoided if basic hygiene practices, such as washing your hands, are followed. 

38% of teachers felt absence had an effect on a child’s learning and development.  But it is not just children’s education at risk.  According to the study, 79% of their parents are also taking extended time off to care for them.  Of these, almost one in three (30%) took this time as holiday while a quarter claimed it as a sick day and four in ten (43%) had to forfeit their pay.

 This means that every winter, the average family finds itself out of pocket by more than £1,100, according to today’s report by Carex comparing absenteeism figures for the past two years and a survey of parents. 

Evidence by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine suggests that where schools are actively encouraging children to wash their hands, common childhood illnesses, such as diarrhoea can be reduced by more than 30%**. GP Dr Carol Cooper, who examined the findings, says: “As a family doctor, I know how important hand hygiene is in preventing illness. But, as a mother of three, I’m only too aware of how difficult it is to put theory into practice. To reduce the risk of catching these common illnesses we need to actively remind children of when-and how- to wash their hands.”

To date more than 2,500 primary and secondary schools have used the ‘Hands up for Hygiene Teaching Resource Pack’, which offers creative lesson plans and teaching aids that promote hand washing as the foundation for good health and lower absenteeism. The scheme was originally launched for nurseries and reached over 1,028,000 pre-school aged children but is now engaging children up to the age of 14.  

For more information visit www.carex.co.uk 

**Liverpool School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says: Promotion of hand-washing among children and their care-givers can reduce the number of episodes of diarrhoea in children by about 30%.

Ejemot RI, Ehiri JE, Meremikwu MM, Critchley JA  Hand washing for preventing diarrhoea. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004265. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004265.pub2.Evidence Update published in September 2009.