Company Announcement - The country's leading hygiene services provider has challenged South Africans to learn the five steps for effective handwashing in the run-up to Global Handwashing Day on Wednesday, 15 October 2014. "Encouraging South Africans from all walks of life, from learners to lawyers, to spend the week leading up to Global Handwashing Day memorising the best way to effectively clean one's hands is our way of helping to create a healthier South Africa," said Rika van Rooyen of Bidvest Steiner.

She added that the spreading Ebola threat made handwashing awareness more crucial than ever. Other good reasons to spend just 20 seconds at a time washing one's hands include the fact that even diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, which are responsible for the majority of child deaths every year, are largely preventable through effective and regular handwashing," said Ms Van Rooyen.

Wednesday, 15 October will see South Africans joining over 200 million people across more than 100 countries worldwide in promoting handwashing with soap as an effective and inexpensive way to prevent the spread of germs and the deaths of millions of people in developing countries annually. A visit to any one of thousands of public bathrooms in South Africa will reveal Bidvest Steiner health and hygiene equipment and consumables such as hand soap and hand sanitiser. Turning handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention. "We would like to encourage South Africans to practice this most basic health and safety intervention that is recommended by all health authorities worldwide," concluded Ms Van Rooyen.

The five steps for effective handwashing that South Africans should memorise this week are as follows:

• Wet hands with running water.
• Apply soap and lather well.
• Rub hands for at least 20 seconds.
• Rinse well.
• Dry hands with a clean towel or air dryer.

Global Handwashing Day was originally created for children and schools, but can be celebrated by anyone promoting handwashing with soap.