Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread simply by not practicing hand hygiene. According to the University of Michigan, four out of five germs that cause illness are spread by hands. Thus, to live a healthy and infection free life, hand hygiene should never be considered optional. Washing your hands is one of the most important things you and your family can do to prevent illness. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand hygiene is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection. Clean hands can help protect you from infectious and food-borne illnesses. If you get sick, it can also keep you from passing your illness to others.

The practice of hand hygiene protects your health by removing the dirt and germs that get on your hands during almost all activities. If you don't practice hand hygiene, the germs on your hands can get into your mouth, nose, eyes, cuts and scrapes - even your food - and make you sick.

Feces from people or animals is an important source of germs like Salmonella, E. coli O157, and norovirus that cause diarrhea, and it can spread some respiratory infections like adenovirus and hand-foot-mouth disease. These kinds of germs can get onto hands after people use the toilet or change a diaper, but also in less obvious ways, like after handling raw meats that have invisible amounts of animal feces on them. A single gram of human feces—which is about the weight of a paper clip—can contain one trillion germs. Germs can also get onto hands if people touch any object that has germs on it because someone coughed or sneezed on it or was touched by some other contaminated object. When these germs get onto hands and are not taken care of, they can be passed from person to person and make people sick.

Hand hygiene helps to remove germs from hands. This helps prevent infections because:

• People frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick.

• Germs from unwashed hands can get into foods and drinks while people prepare or consume them. Germs can multiply in some types of foods or drinks, under certain conditions, and make people sick.

• Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects, like handrails, table tops, or toys, and then transferred to another person’s hands.

• Removing germs through the practice of hand hygiene therefore helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections.

Encouraging hand hygiene in the community will:

• Reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 23-40%

• Reduce diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58%

• Reduce respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 16-21%

• Reduce absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29-57%

About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. But the practice of hand hygiene helps battle the rise in antibiotic resistance, preventing sickness reduces the amount of antibiotics people use and the likelihood that antibiotic resistance will develop.

Hand hygiene will help to deter the spread of germs and illness-causing bacteria, particularly in busy environments like schools and offices. It will:

• Stop the Spread of Germs: According to studies, 1 in 5 people don’t regularly wash their hands. Of those who do, 70% don’t use soap. Providing portable and affordable hand hygiene solution makes it more likely that people will use it to kill harmful bacteria.

• Reduce Waste: As an extra precaution, many people will use paper towels to open doors when leaving bathrooms or kitchens. Making available hand hygiene solution near exits makes it easy for people to defend themselves from germs without needing to create additional mess.

Here comes the challenge of handwashing:

Frequent washing of hands with soap and water, and sanitizing of hands with alcohol-based sanitizer was recently traced to so many side effects experienced by some individuals. Apart from the fact that Soap and Water aren't portable enough to carry around, there are more harm to ‘frequent washing’ with soap and water. Also, apart from the fact that hand sanitizer can a times be irritating and messy, the alcohol content in it came along with hidden health issue. It's been proven that, frequent hand washing and hand massage with sanitizer can cause skin to become dry and crack; thus, become more vulnerable to infections. Here are the most common side effects as reported by different people:

1. Dry skin: “When we wash our hands, we're not only removing impurities - we're removing oils, too. Natural oils on our skin help retain moisture and keep our hands soft, smooth, and hydrated. When we use soaps, or lots of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, we strip the skin of this natural oil. Recommended Solution: To combat hand dryness, make sure you moisturize your hands just as much as you are washing them (if not more!).

2. Eczema: When your dry skin gets severe, it can develop into a more serious skin condition. "Eczema is a skin rash characterized by itchy, red, and rough patches of skin," Recommended Solution: To prevent Eczema, using thick moisturizers, and even wearing cotton gloves to bed over a layer of ointment or cream, are ways to prevent eczema

3. Hangnails: Hangnails occur when the cuticle - the thin layer of skin covering the base of our fingernails - dries out, curls up, and separates from the nail, they're painful and can expose raw areas of skin that are more susceptible to infection. Recommended Solution: Using a thick ointment or cream on your cuticles so you can keep them soft and hydrated.

4. Brittle nails: Brittle nails are another bothersome side effect of constantly washing your hands. Over time, all that washing can remove the natural moisture of the nail, making it more susceptible to cracking and splitting. Recommended Solution: Moisturize your hands just as much as you are washing them. Wearing gloves when doing the dishes, filing with glass nail files, and applying nail lacquers or hardeners can also help.

5. Infection: Dry skin, Eczema, Hangnails, and Brittle nails may be the least of your worries when it comes to the side effects of washing your hands so much. You may also be putting yourself at risk for an infection. Oils on top of skin layer contributes to the formation of an impermeable barrier that keeps water in and pathogens out. When the composition of the barrier is disrupted by excessive washing, it predisposes the skin to infections from bacteria. When you have dry and cracked skin, you're increasing your risk of allowing bacteria, viruses, and germs to enter and cause an infection. Recommended Solution: Keep your skin moisturized.

It is so glaring that all the recommended solutions to these side effects came along with burden on our finances; not to mention the cost of washing and sanitizing which many of the middle-class can’t afford. From our perspective at GREENAID Technologies, the best way not to experience these side effects and yet stay safe is to WASH LESS, yes - drastic reduction in the numbers of time that hands would be washed; and this can best be achieved by making sure that both surfaces and objects that contaminate our hands enjoy frequent disinfection - too much of disinfection won't be a bad idea, but must be void of burden on our finance. Our technology at GREENAID seems to fit in as good alternative to reducing the frequent hand washing, apart from its usability as surface & object disinfectant, the misting nature of P-H2O at lower concentration (50ppm) qualifies it to work efficiently in dealing with the contagions that cling to our hands, clothing and shoes without any irritation to eyes or skin, and does not damage or bleach clothing. Saves money and so portable to take around.