Over 230,000 children lose their lives every year because of waterborn diseases such as typhoid, diarrhea, but washing the hands with soap could reduce these figures significantly. Health professionals told Business Recorder here on Monday that several studies have shown that a mother's hand washing can reduce the risk of diarrhoea disease in pre-school age children.
Washing hands with soap and water in preparation for delivery significantly reduced the risk of death for infants within the first month of life, they added while quoting a recent study, which found a lower risk of death among new-borns when the birth attendants washed their hands before delivery. The study also found a significant cut in risk of deaths if mothers washed their hands prior to handling their new-born infants.
Punjab Minister for Population Welfare Mrs Neelam Jabbar Chaudhry said that health sector is the key to the government's agenda for social sector development and the present government is committed to facilitating an efficient and affordable health system to respond to the healthcare needs of the people of the province.
She said that there is the need to create awareness as well as education about the importance of hand washing before meal in order to reduce incidents of diarrhoea among the children. She said that over 230,000 children lose their lives every year because of waterborn diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea.
Neelam asked the medical community to educate the common man about the hazardous aspects of communicable and non-communicable diseases and teach them regarding preventive measures to save them from such diseases. Nevertheless, the slogan of 'prevention is better than cure' must be highlighted among the general public.
Neelam said that the present government has accorded priority to health and education and the provincial health budget has been enhanced by 38.5% and additional resources have been provided to accelerate the efforts for prompt achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The major focus on protecting the health of people should be through strengthening of primary health care and disease preventive programmes, she said.
Moreover, the students of various government schools in Lahore are at risk of water-borne diseases mainly due to non-cleaning of the water tanks in these schools. The District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood had directed WASA authorities to clean water tanks of all the government schools of the city within one month; however, no action was taken by them mainly for non-availability of funds. The parents of children in these schools have urged Chief Minister to intervene to help protect their children from falling prey to these waterborne diseases.