Getting health is actually not difficult. The first easy and simple way to do is to get used to washing your hands.
Data shows that hand-washing is a small thing that has a large impact on stunting or problematic nutrition / intake. According to nutritionist, Dr. Atmarita, MPH, washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of stunting by up to 15%.
For information, the number of stunting in Indonesia is still quite high at 37%. Even though the WHO standard is less than 20%.
On the other hand, washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhea by 45%. Diarrhea is a disease that often affects children.
If a child has recurrent diarrhea, especially in the first 1000 days of life, chances are he won’t get enough nutrition. Nutritional deficiency is what causes stunting in children.
Based on the data above can be concluded if a child is diligent in washing hands, then he can reduce the risk of diarrhea. If diarrhea does not occur, the nutrients it consumes can be absorbed properly by the body, thereby reducing the risk of stunting. This is where the relationship between hand washing and soap with stunting is found.
“Stunting is not only a matter of not consuming nutritious food or no facilities. However, from the behavior of the community itself. Not only the poor experience this problem.
Among the rich, the stunting rate is still high. Therefore the campaign needs to be continued to continue to remind the importance of hand washing with soap to prevent stunting, “said Iing Mursalin, M.Si, Director of MCA-Indonesia Community-Based Health and Nutrition Program when met at the commemoration of World Handwashing Day on Saturday (10/21/2017) at RPTRA Teratai, Tebet, South Jakarta.
From the 2013 Riskesdas data, the number of hand washing among household members over 10 years is only 47%.
This shows that there are still many parents who have not applied the habit of hand washing. While the habit of hand washing can be applied to children if their parents exemplify it.
The problem of stunting in children has a serious impact on the quality of human resources. If the quality of human resources is bad, it will affect the level of productivity and economy in the future. It is not impossible if this has a negative effect on the life of a nation because its people are unable to compete with other nations.
The Importance of Washing Hands Using Soap
Hand washing using water and soap is one of the sanitary measures that aims to prevent the spread of germs in the hands. That action may seem trivial, but let’s ask ourselves, how often do we wash our hands?
Many people think washing hands is a trivial act, sometimes even being sidelined. But did you know that diarrhea is one of the number 1 killer diseases in Indonesia and one of the causes is the germs that are in our hands. Diarrhea can attack anyone, even our children. But that is all we can prevent by getting used to washing hands using soap early.