Issue

What is our issue?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hygiene is “conditions or practices (as of cleanliness) conducive to health.” All humans’ behaviours in managing the cleanliness of their surroundings also affect their health condition. There are four types of hygiene: personal hygiene, environmental hygiene, food hygiene, and domestic hygiene.

Personal hygiene is a practice that maintains the cleanliness of a person’s body. Proper personal hygiene does both keep the cleanliness of the body as well as clothing. Some activities related to personal hygiene include handwashing, bathing, and using the toilet properly.

Environmental hygiene focuses on clean and safe air, adequate water for sanitation, safe chemical uses, sound agricultural practices, and healthy, well-built workplaces, cities, and nature. Everybody must make sure that their activities do not harm any other beings or ecosystems. It can be said that this part of hygiene focuses on both current and future conditions. Not to forget to mention that humans also need to minimize toxic waste which can be made by daily activities such as bathing, washing, preparing foods, shopping, using toilets, and more. Domestic hygiene is hygiene at home, like keeping your room clean and healthy.

Food hygiene is one practice that directly impacts human physical health. What people eat and how the foods are produced affect the body directly, so it is fundamental for being selective and strict when it comes to food. More importantly, food like vegetables and fruits must be washed before being consumed. In addition, consuming food should be done not too long after the food is produced because long-kept food can contain pathogens or toxic chemicals. Eating raw food such as ham, fish, or other meat should not be done because it potentially contains bad bacteria such as Salmonella or E. Coli. However, cooking food has some rules, too. The heat should be proper to make the food well-cooked and kill germs and bacteria.

What's wrong?

So many people do not have access to hygiene. According to WHO and UNICEF, in 2017, more than 2 billion people worldwide did not have access to basic sanitation. They do not have enough sources of clean water for daily cleaning. Some countries that are not fortunate enough to have proper hygiene access are Afghanistan, Cambodia, Congo, Pakistan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, Chad, and Syria. It can be concluded that most of the countries come from Asia and Africa.

Many people also do not know how to do proper hygiene practices. One common challenge found in society is that people do not facilitate themselves with hand soap and water. Even worse, some people do not have a toilet, so they defecate in the rivers, forests, bushes, and other open areas. This is not only unhygienic for themselves but also dirty for the environment. The reasons are various, but mainly, people cannot afford to build a toilet or they do not aware of the importance of a toilet.