Henry the Hand Foundation is an NGO started by Family Doctor Will Sawyer that teaches crucial behavior modifications which help reduce the spread of communicable diseases. Henry the Hand teaches a hand awareness strategy which is defined as hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and cross contamination awareness.
The 4 Principles of Hand Awareness are:
1. WASH your hands when they are dirty and BEFORE eating.
2. DO NOT cough into your hands.
3. DO NOT sneeze into your hands.
4. Above all, DO NOT put your fingers into your eyes, nose, or mouth.
These easy but effective steps are especially important in the global health context where social behavioral changes can have a huge impact and resources are often scarce. The simple, extremely cost-effective method of hand awareness is simple to learn and easy to remember and share. Better still, Dr. Sawyer has been able to thoughtfully address obstacles that can arise when working globally like language barriers and minimal resources by adding multiple translations and adaptations to the program.
Consider incorporating these hand awareness principles into your own global health practice, or even here in the US. I can personally vouch for Henry the Hand having followed the program I was able to remain healthy all winter long!
Find out more by visiting www.henrythehand.org
Download free posters in more than 20 languages at http://www.henrythehand.org/download-posters/translations
And international templates http://www.henrythehand.org/international/templates
