Dear Belinda, dear all, here is a brief recap of what happened last week for GHD here in the Philippines:

PHILIPPINES: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LEADS GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY 2016 CELEBRATION

Greetings from Manila,
Nicole

Below are recent posts on Sanitation Updates on news, events and handwashing research as a contribution to Global Handwashing Day 2016.

• Handwashing/hygiene research by the SHARE Project
• Handwashing in the news
• Recently published studies on handwashing
• Robert Dreibelbis on Handwashing Behavior Change in Bangladesh
• Habits matter for Global Handwashing Day. This is why you should promote them!

Thank you, Steven. I just want to make sure pictures 1-4 and 6 are from 2016 celebrations? If they are from this year, I'd love to hear more about how the events in detail and how they went?

This is how it should be done.....

Global Handwashing Day Campaign Kenya - Pictorial

1) Handwashing in Nakuru, Kenya
2) First Lady Margret Kenyatta handwashing with soap
3) Mukhoje Community handwashing stations
4) Children in Thirime Primary School, Kikuyu attempt a world record by numbers
5) Handwashing Day 2014
6) Handwahing with soap at critical times

Celebrated annually on October 15, Global Handwashing Day is a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. This year’s theme is “Make Handwashing a Habit!”. In light of this theme, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss how promoting habits as part of your celebration might lead to the development of sustained handwashing behavior.

Habit formation is an ongoing process and it requires continuous effort to encourage practitioners to not lose motivation and revert back to poor handwashing behavior. In order to effectively promote routine handwashing, stations must be accessible, properly maintained, and always stocked with soap and water. So, for instance, if you host a handwashing demonstration at a community center for Global Handwashing Day, make sure permanent, functional handwashing facilities are available so the behavior can be sustained. Pairing habit-formation initiatives with small doable actions can be an effective strategy. Behaviors are more likely to be adopted into a routine when they are both desirable and feasible for the practitioner. Small doable actions for improving handwashing practices might include building a tippy-tap near a household latrine or holding a soap drive at a local school. Nudges, such as painting handwashing stations a visible, bright color, are another way to help remind people to wash their hands.

Global Handwashing Day—and the practice of making handwashing a habit—can be celebrated by everyone, everywhere. Traditionally, schools have been a significant venue for Global Handwashing Day celebrations, as handwashing with soap at critical times can help reduce school absenteeism. Because schooldays are organized around routines, demonstrating handwashing before lunch to educate children to wash hands before meals can have a big impact on routine-building, and given their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, children can be harnessed to act as agents of change to share these or similar lessons and positively influence other people’s (for instance, family members) health behaviors.

Global Handwashing Day efforts are important in other contexts as well. It can be used as an opportunity to remind healthcare workers about handwashing between patient contact to reduce infection transmission. In workplaces, employers can ensure workers have access to hygiene facilities, which not only keep employees healthy, but can also impact productivity. Governments can use the day to ensure that handwashing facilities in public places are clean and accessible, particularly for the elderly and individuals living with disabilities. And, through partnerships, soap manufacturers, civil society organizations, and local governments can each leverage their areas of expertise to prompt change and promote key handwashing messages amongst a wider audience.

While Global Handwashing Day is a once-a-year opportunity to make a big splash, hygiene promotion shouldn’t end after October 15. If all celebrants advocated for handwashing with soap every day, there would be significant progress in moving towards the goal of increasing hygiene programs, investment, and behavior. I encourage you to learn more about habits by visiting our website, where you will find our habits fact sheet , a more in-depth look at habit as a key topic in behavior change , and ideas for promoting handwashing Beyond Global Handwashing Day . Lastly, please take a look at the infographic below and download it here for five simple and important actions you can take to promote handwashing habits going forward.

Happy Handwashing!

It is really difficult to maintain handwashing facilities in cold places in the winter.No stable water supply, not anti-freezing pipes.

October 15 is about a month away, and I would like to share links to key Global Handwashing Day tools, information about how the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) can support you, and ways you can join us to make a big splash for hygiene this year on Global Handwashing Day. All tools, information about past events, and updates can be found on our website, www.GlobalHandwashingDay.org .

Let us know what you have planned, so please keep us updated (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Don’t forget to upload your event after the day.

Planning Tools
-Each year, the Global Handwashing Day Planner’s Guide is updated with the latest in handwashing evidence, new thinking about behavior change, and fresh ideas for celebrations. Download this essential planning tool in both English and French today, and share it with colleagues or country offices!
-Social media tools help reach hundreds of millions of people with messages about handwashing. The 2016 Social Media Toolkit can help you do the same with sample Tweets, Facebook messages, and images to share on social media platforms. Don’t forget to use #GlobalHandwashingDay!
-The Virtual Events page on our website promotes digital campaigns in support of Global Handwashing Day.

The PPPHW can help!
As the coordinator of Global Handwashing Day, the PPPHW aims to help make planning as easy as possible. We can:
-Provide feedback or input on how to increase the impact of your plans
-Help connect you with other organizations celebrating in your region
-Promote your event or social media campaign on our website

After Global Handwashing Day
-Show the world how you celebrated by uploading your event to our interactive map and then learn how you can promote handwashing beyond October 15 .


Happy Handwashing!

Global Handwashing Day, which is celebrated annually on October 15, is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times.

Updated for 2016, this Planner’s Guide will help you plan a successful Global Handwashing Day event. This guide will soon be available in French.

From providing step-by-step instructions to planning an event, easy-to-use tools, and detailed information about the importance of handwashing, the 2016 Global Handwashing Day Planner’s Guide also features:

• Spotlights on current big ideas in handwashing, such as:

• incorporating nudges into handwashing promotion programs (pg. 14)
• the importance of handwashing in healthcare facilities (pg. 21), and
• the impact of WASH and nutrition integration (pg. 27)

• Tools to help planners assess the impact of Global Handwashing Day (pg. 51)
• Tips for promoting hygiene beyond Global Handwashing Day (pg. 73)
• And much more!


You can download the 2016 Planner's Guide here .

For additional inspiration and resources, please visit the Global Handwashing Day website .

It is my pleasure to announce that the theme for Global Handwashing Day 2016 is “Make handwashing a habit!”

For handwashing to be effective it must be practiced consistently at key times, such as after using the toilet or before contact with food. While habits must be developed over time, this theme emphasizes the importance of handwashing as a ritual behavior for long-term sustainability. Habit formation is currently a hot topic in behavior change and the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. This theme taps into that interest and is also a gateway to discussing what the sector knows about how habits are formed.

This theme will drive messaging and events around the world, but it can also be modified for specific contexts if organizations would like to highlight the specific impact of handwashing on key areas, such as a nutrition or education. For instance, an organization could say “Make handwashing a habit because it prevents diarrhea!” or “Make handwashing a habit because it impacts nutrition!”

On October 15 this year Global Handwashing Day will be celebrating its 7th year. Global Handwashing Day is a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. Global Handwashing Day is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times.

To help support event organizers, the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing will publish an updated Planner's Guide, develop a social media toolkit, and coordinate planning calls. To stay up-to-date on Global Handwashing Day plans, or questions about the day, please write us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or learn more on the Global Handwashing Day website .

Hello! Tomorrow, June 2nd at 11 am (DC time), PPPHW will be hosting our first planning call for Global Handwashing Day 2016. If you would like to join the call or know of any colleagues who would be interested in participating, please send me an email letting us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Below is the agenda and sign-in link.


Agenda

Call objective and agenda
Looking back: Global Handwashing 2015
• Results in 2015
• Success stories
• Evaluating our efforts
Framing Global Handwashing Day 2016
• PPPHW objectives
• Deliverables
• Looking forward
• Theme discussion
• Planning timeline
Role of planning group members
Next Steps
AOB & Questions

Join Skype call