Handwashing Could Prevent Deaths Worldwide

Sometimes the answers have been right in front of us all along. In a startling display of modern medical genius, the August, 2001 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control reports that the simple act of handwashing could dramatically reduce deaths from diarrheal illness in children in developing nations.

More than 2 million people die every year from bacterial, viral and parasitic diarrheal infections, most of them in children under 5 years of age.

According to the author, "the good news is that handwashing with soap . .. . reduces the incidence of one of the largest killers of children worldwide."

It's good to see our research dollars hard at work.