10 practices to acquire habits that contribute to the health of adults and children
Hygiene and personal care habits make a key contribution to disease prevention and health improvement.
For this reason, Kimberly-Clark developed a Hygiene and Health Guide for parents that seek to contribute to the awareness and education of those who are directly responsible for teaching -from home- to the little ones.
The Guide was produced within the framework of the company’s Aqua Plus program, developed in conjunction with Agua Segura, and with the support of the Municipality of Pilar to bring safe water to more than 2,500 children in kindergartens in the municipality of Pilar.
In order for children to acquire and maintain habits that contribute to preserving health and preventing diseases such as diarrhea, parasitosis, or malnutrition, it is necessary to create an alliance between parents (family), teachers, and educational institutions who together reinforce these basic and easy ideas to practice:
1. Drink safe and drinkable water:
Access to safe and drinkable water is considered a human right (UNICEF, WHO) that contributes to eradicating diseases transmitted by this vital resource for life. Currently, an average of 750 million people in the world without access to safe water is estimated, almost 20 times the Argentine population. This causes diseases such as diarrhea, the second leading cause of death in children under five in the world.
2. Preserve hygiene and food safety:
Make sure they are ventilated and illuminated environments. Wash your hands, kitchen utensils, and food. Remove waste during food preparation. Cook food thoroughly. Separate meat and fish from the rest of the food. Keep food at safe temperatures.
3. Carry out proper personal hygiene:
With simple acts such as hand washing. Hand washing is the best measure to avoid many diseases such as diarrhea, intestinal parasites, skin or eye infections, or flu, among others, and eliminate up to 99% of the microorganisms that can live on our hands and be transmitted to food and other parts of our body.
4. Keep common spaces clean:
Bathrooms, latrines, and others, in our homes and creative institutions
5. Teach by example:
Parents, family, and teachers as references for children should guide regularly in time the daily and constant practice of the mentioned hygiene guidelines.
6. Create appropriate environments:
Conducive environment and hygiene items were available to everyone such as soap, toilet paper, water, towels.
7. Make hygiene a pleasant and enjoyable moment:
Contribute with fun activities so that learning these habits is more fun for children. In any case, look for creative alternatives to motivate the little ones to take care of their health.
8. The time of childhood is the most permeable to learning:
Childhood is by nature at the time of life in which individuals learn more easily. Helping them in this stage is giving them tools to grow healthy and become true agents of change.
9. Drink water throughout the day:
At least 2 liters of water. It is also recommended not to wait until you are thirsty to hydrate.
10. Safe drinking methods:
Boil the water for 3 to 5 minutes to inactivate microbes, allow it to cool without adding ice, and prevent re-contamination (clean hands, clean containers). In terms of filtration methods, the only two filters endorsed by the WHO for achieving the highest standards are Lifestraw Community and Family 1.0 from the Safe Water Project.
