Washing your hands saves millions of lives every year. It was also one of the main measures against the spread of the pandemic virus. But today that Covid is no longer scary, 22% of Italians say they wash their hands less frequently. Only for 54% did Covid make this practice more important (-9% compared to last year). The data from the Opinion Leader 4 Future Observatory, born from the collaboration between the Credem Group and Almed of the Catholic University.
03 MAY – On the eve of World Hand Hygiene Awareness Day, which is celebrated on May 5, new research highlights how, after the pandemic, the number of Italians still attentive to this simple but enormous health impact practice has decreased . Correct hand hygiene, in fact, saves millions of lives every year: all the microorganisms responsible for infectious diseases are potentially transmissible with the hands, which can constitute a means of transmission for viruses, bacteria and protozoa. Covid-19 has also demonstrated how poor hand hygiene is an important vehicle for transmitting germs. However, as concerns related to the pandemic decreased, Italians’ attention towards the good practices learned during the health emergency period also decreased. This is what emerges from a research involving 800 people carried out by the Opinion Leader 4 Future Observatory, the project on conscious information born from the collaboration between the Credem Group and the High School in Media Communication and Entertainment (Almed) of the Catholic University, and conducted thanks to the work of researchers from the Catholic University and the Bilendi institute, in collaboration with specialists from the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS University Polyclinic Foundation in Rome.
The survey shows that only one Italian in two (54%) declares that washing hands has become more important with the pandemic (-9% compared to last year) and 45% of those interviewed say they wash them more frequently compared to 55% last year.
From the investigation conducted by researchers from the Catholic University and the Bilendi Institute, in collaboration with specialists from the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS of Rome, further signs emerge of the decline in the level of attention on these issues. In particular, 22% of those interviewed say they have reduced hand washing. Soap is used by 97% of interviewees (-2 percentage points y/y), with a greater diffusion of liquid soap (87%) compared to classic bar soap (32%). The use of gels and wipes is less frequent: 25% of interviewees use sanitizing gel (-4 percentage points compared to last year) and 7% wipes.
16% of people are aware of the existence of a World Day dedicated to hand hygiene, an encouraging figure when compared with the 13% recorded last year. Equally positive is the data on awareness related to respiratory hygiene (77% of the population is aware of the fact that the correct etiquette for respiratory hygiene consists of coughing into the crease of the elbow) and mobile phone hygiene. In fact, 65% of the population identifies it as a potential vehicle for germs, compared to the previous 63%. Given this evidence, however, only 37% declare that they disinfect their smartphone with specific products, of which 25% at least once a day.
Differences related to gender and age remain. More specifically, women wash their hands more often than men, with an average of 7.1 times a day compared to 6.3 for men. Furthermore, those over 65 tend to wash their hands less frequently than younger people, with an average of 6.2 times a day compared to 7.14 for the age group between 45 and 64 years.
“The decline in attention towards hand hygiene it is a worrying sign of ‘tiredness’ towards sustainable measures of proven effectiveness for the prevention of infections due to dangerous antibiotic-resistant microorganisms capable of putting the health of the most fragile people at serious risk. But this is precisely the value of measurements conducted with rigorous and reproducible methods: continuing to measure allows us to promptly grasp signs of a decline in attention to be monitored with targeted, continuous, sustainable and credible interventions because they are calibrated to real needs (of knowledge, of motivation refresh and more) to be monitored with continuous improvement actions that the data highlights, since they become useful information to guide best practice decisions”, he declared Patrizia Laurenti, Associate Professor of General and Applied Hygiene at the Catholic University, Rome campus, and Director of the Hospital Hygiene Unit of the A. Gemelli University Polyclinic IRCCS.
“The data collected by the Opinion Leader 4 Future Observatory report a worrying decrease in the attention of Italians to the topic of hand hygiene. This decrease is strictly connected to the progressive reduction of the space reserved for the topic on the public and media agenda. In this sense, World Hand Hygiene Day, proclaimed by the WHO, represents a precious opportunity to bring this simple but crucial protection for the protection of personal and public health back into the spotlight”, he declared. Mariagrazia Fanchi, Director of ALMED (High School in Media, Communication and Entertainment).
“Prevention is undoubtedly one of the most important tools to be able to maintain a healthy state of health and promote individual and collective well-being,” he declared Luigi Ianesi, Credem external relations manager. “The Opinion 4 Future Observatory initiative represents an opportunity for Credem to create awareness, starting with our colleagues, on issues that have a high impact on everyone’s lives and to which we often do not give due consideration,” continues Ianesi. “We are certain that through good information we can raise people’s awareness to implement and encourage others to respect those practices, even simple ones such as hand hygiene, capable of saving lives and having a concrete impact on society”, he concluded Ianesi.
03 May 2024
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