Citing the Unicef paper, Department of Health director-general Pornthep Siriwanarangsan said yesterday that proper hand-washing could reduce deaths from diarrhoea by half, and from pneumonia by a quarter.
A survey in Thailand in 2009 found that a local awareness campaign a few years ago had encouraged 90 per cent of Thais to regularly wash their hands, but only 41 per cent completed the seven-step procedure for doing so.
The events will be held jointly by a network of relevant agencies at several locations in the capital, Pornthep said. The doctor encouraged people to wash their hands as often as possible, but said it was especially important for people to do so before they had meals and prepared food, after using the toilet, after doing housework, after covering the nose or mouth when coughing or sneezing, and after playing with pets.