「我們的雙手，我們的未來」-寫在2017年全球洗手日到來之前

譯者：李雷雷

1.洗手的歷史

Handwashing has been a central component of personal hygiene and a religious and cultural custom for many years. However, the link between handwashing and health was first made less than two centuries ago.

洗手作為個人衛生和宗教文化習俗的重要組成部分已有很多年，然而關於洗手與健康之間的關係卻是兩個世紀之前才首次發現。

Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor working in Vienna General Hospital, is known as the father of hand hygiene. In 1846, he noticed that the women giving birth in the medical student/doctor-run maternity ward in his hospital were much more likely to develop a fever and die compared to the women giving birth in the adjacent midwife-run maternity ward. He decided to investigate, seeking differences between the two wards. He noticed that doctors and medical students often visited the maternity ward directly after performing an autopsy. Based on this observation, he developed a theory that those performing autopsies got 『cadaverous particles』 on their hands, which they then carried from the autopsy room into the maternity ward. Midwives did not conduct surgery or autopsies, so they were not exposed to these particles.

一位來自維也納總醫院匈牙利醫生—Ignaz Semmelweis，被譽為手衛生之父。1846年，他偶然間發現，他所在醫院裡那些由醫學生/醫生負責的產科病房中生產的婦女要比相鄰的由助產士負責的產科病房中的婦女更易出現發熱和死亡。因此，他決定調查引起這兩處病房不同的原因。後來，他觀察到那些醫生和醫學生經常在做完屍檢後直接進入產科病房。基於此，他提出一個理論，那些開展屍檢的醫生和醫學生將「屍體上的顆粒物」沾到了手上，而這些顆粒物也就從屍檢室帶到了產科病房。而那些助產士並沒有做手術或屍檢，因此他們的手並沒有暴露於這些顆粒物。

As a result, Semmelweis imposed a new rule mandating handwashing with chlorine for doctors. The rates of death in his maternity ward fell dramatically. This was the first proof that cleansing hands could prevent infection. However, the innovation was not popular with everyone: some doctors were disgruntled that Semmelweis was implying that they were to blame for the deaths and they stopped washing their hands, arguing in support of the prevailing notion at that time that water was the potential cause of disease. Semmelweis tried to persuade other doctors in European hospitals of the benefits of handwashing, but to no avail.

隨後，Semmelveis就制定了一條規則要求所有醫生必須用含氯製劑洗手，隨後他的產科病房中孕產婦的死亡率便大大下降。這是第一次有確切證據表明洗手可以預防感染。然而，這種創新性的措施並不被所有人採納：一些醫生對Semmelweis表達不滿，認為他暗示那些孕產婦的死亡是由他們造成，他們拒絕洗手，聲援當時另外一種主張，即引起孕產婦死亡的可能原因是水源。Semmelweis極力去說服歐洲其他醫院的醫生要認識到洗手的重要性，但無功而返。

A few years later in Scutari, Italy, the Crimean War brought about a new handwashing champion, Florence Nightingale. At a time when most people believed that infections were caused by foul odors called miasmas, Florence Nightingale implemented handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital in which she worked. While the target of these practices was to fight the miasmas, Nightingale』s handwashing practices achieved a reduction in infections.

幾年後的義大利斯庫特瑞，克里米亞戰爭見證了一位倡導洗手的先驅的出現—弗羅倫斯·南丁格爾。當時，大部分人都認為感染是由瘴氣造成，於是南丁格爾在其工作的戰爭醫院裡實施洗手和其他手衛生措施，目的是要戰勝瘴氣，但卻令人意想不到地降低了感染的發生。

Sadly, the hand hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and Nightingale were not widely adopted. In general, handwashing promotion stood still for over a century. It was not until the 1980s, when a string of foodborne outbreaks and healthcare-associated infections led to public concern that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified hand hygiene as an important way to prevent the spread of infection. In doing so, they heralded the first nationally endorsed hand hygiene guidelines, and many more have followed.

讓人失望的是，Semmelweis和南丁格爾所倡導的手衛生措施未被廣泛採納，就這樣維持了約有一個世紀，直到1980年左右，一大波食源性疾病暴發和醫療服務相關感染的出現引起了公眾的注意，美國CDC調查發現手衛生是預防感染傳播的重要方法，因此，他們率先在全國授權發布了手衛生指南，隨後其他國家也紛紛效仿。

In recent years, handwashing with soap and other forms of hand hygiene have been gaining recognition as a cost-effective, essential tool for achieving good health and nutrition. Now that its effectiveness is no longer in question, the main focus is on how to make handwashing universal. This challenge–sustained handwashing practice at key times–is being met with new thinking about behavior change, such as habit formation and nudges, increased research into the impact of hygiene, and collaboration in organizations such as the Global Handwashing Partnership.

近些年，使用肥皂洗手和其他形式的手衛生措施已經被認為是追求健康和維持營養的有效和基本的方式。既然洗手的效果已無需質疑，下一步的重點就是如何推廣洗手。如何在關鍵時期做好洗手是大家面臨的挑戰，而這種挑戰與對行為改變的新理念同步存在。

Everyone can promote good handwashing behavior.

每個人都可以推廣良好的洗手行為！

2.為什麼要提倡洗手？

Every year, 1.4 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhea and pneumonia. Handwashing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent these diseases. This simple behavior can save lives, cutting diarrhea by almost one-half and acute respiratory infections by nearly one-quarter. Handwashing with soap impacts not just health and nutrition, but also education, economics, and equity. We like to call this the HN3E argument. You can learn about the role handwashing plays in each of these areas by clicking the above tabs.

每年，約有140萬兒童由於腹瀉和肺炎而無法慶祝他們的5歲生日，使用肥皂洗手是預防這些疾病和挽救這些兒童生命最為有效和廉價的方法。這種方法可使近1/2的兒童免於腹瀉，使1/4的兒童免於急性呼吸道感染。使用肥皂洗手不僅僅影響健康和營養，而且對教育、經濟和公平也有長遠影響，我們可以簡稱為「HN3E，即health，nutrition，education，economics and equity」。

3. 全球洗手日

Global Handwashing Day is an annual 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.

10月15日是全球洗手日，也是每年一度的全球宣傳日，旨在提高人們對洗手重要性的認識和理解，力求讓更多的人清楚使用肥皂洗手是預防疾病和挽救生命的最簡易、最有效和最廉價的方法。2017年全球洗手日的主題是「我們的雙手，我們的未來」。

Celebrated annually on October 15, Global Handwashing Day was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership, and is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times.

每年10月15日，我們都將迎來一個特殊的日子—全球洗手日，它由全球洗手夥伴組織（Global Handwashing Partnership）創建，也鼓勵人們以此為契機不斷創造、檢驗和重複新的方法，養成時刻使用肥皂洗手的習慣。

Global Handwashing Day is designed to:

Foster and support a global and local culture of handwashing with soap

Shine a spotlight on the state of handwashing around the world

Raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap

創立全球洗手日的目的是：

促進和支持將使用肥皂洗手成為全球文化和地方文化

在全球範圍內將洗手提到顯著地位

增強人們關於使用肥皂洗手的認識

The first Global Handwashing Day was held in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since 2008, community and national leaders have used Global Handwashing Day to spread the word about handwashing, build sinks and tippy taps, and demonstrate the simplicity and value of clean hands. Each year, over 200 million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the world. Global Handwashing Day is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies, and individuals.

2008年，全球洗手日宣傳活動首次舉行，當時全球超過70個國家的1.2億兒童使用了肥皂洗手。從2008年起，全球各地的政府和民間組織陸續通過全球洗手日傳播洗手的重要性，推廣建立洗手池和洗手龍頭，不斷展示洗手的易操作性和核心價值。每年全球超過100個國家約2億人都參與到洗手日的慶祝活動中。全球洗手日已經被越來越多的政府、國際組織、人權組織、無國界組織、私人企業和個人所認可。

The 2017 Global Handwashing Day theme is 「Our hands, our future!」 This theme reminds us that handwashing protects our own health, but also allows us to build our own futures, as well as those of our communities, and the world. Because handwashing is an affordable, effective way to achieve these goals, by having the power to improve access to education for children, protect the health of patients and communities, and reduce inequities. Promoting the benefits and practice of handwashing with soap, as well as fostering access to and improving hygiene facilities, will help us work towards a future where that potential is realized.

2017年全球洗手日的主題是：我們的雙手，我們的未來。這個主題提醒著我們：洗手可以保護我們的健康，但同時也為我們自己、我們的社會和全世界創造出更好的未來。要實現上述目標，洗手是一種廉價且有效的方法，通過使用肥皂洗手可以改善兒童受教育的機會，保護病人和社區的健康，減少不公平現象。通過推廣使用肥皂洗手，以及建設和改進更多的手衛生設施，將有助於我們邁向更美好的未來。

No matter what your role, you can celebrate Global Handwashing Day. This website is the central repository for all the tools necessary to make your event a success!

今年10月15日，無論你是在學校慶祝，還是在衛生機構，還是和你的社區一起慶祝，讓我們洗手，投資一個更美好的未來！如需更多信息，您也可以登錄網站https://globalhandwashing.org/global-handwashing-day/或https://globalhandwashing.org/

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