Cleaning and Sanitation Methods You Should Know
To keep us healthy these days, we all need proper and safe sanitation, and there are many ways to disinfect the surfaces and objects you use daily. People use a variety of methods, from UV sanitizer light to bleach, all in order to keep our homes and workspaces safe and clean.
Using proper sanitation techniques will ensure we live a good healthy life, have a thriving environment around us, and eventually have less transmission of infectious diseases.
We all know about COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects lives all over the world. But according to WHO, about 1.8 million people also die annually from diarrhea diseases, and children who die from this disease are 90% under five years old.
In many developing countries the water is not suitable for drinking, washing, or swimming. It’s ground for waste and excreta for the flies to breed on. They are an ideal opportunity for the spreading of diseases.
WHO estimates it, bilharziasis diseases have infected over 200 Million people in 74 developing countries. Of these results, 20 million people suffer severe cases of the illness.
Why focus on sanitation?
People’s health improves when we take care of sanitation and hygiene. There will be fewer or no cases of spreading infectious diseases.
It’s a fact, whenever there is a massive population of people, their wastes also accumulate.
When there is poorly controlled waste management, it will lead to spreading infectious diseases, particularly to vulnerable members of society—for example, the young, the elderly, and people suffering from diseases that lower their immunity.
What are the diseases associated with poor sanitation?
These diseases are:
- Cholera,
- Typhoid,
- Polio,
- Ascariasis,
- Cryptosporidiosis,
- Infectious hepatitis
Importance of sanitation
- Sanitation will help to contribute to the social and economic development of society
- people to get access to safe drinking water
- The environment will thrive and other species.
- People will become healthy and reduce the chances of contracting infectious diseases.
Methods of sanitation
There are several methods of sanitation currently being practiced.
We will highlight three methods in this article.
1) Basic Sanitation
It’s having access to facilities where you can safely dispose of human wastes like urine and feces. Also, being able to practice and maintain hygiene conditions like waste management, garbage collection, etc.
2) Community-led total sanitation
It’s an approach where the community in rural areas is sensitized to achieve behavior change in adopting and practicing sanitation.
It usually results in people abandoning open defecation practices. The community recognizes the dangers of open defecation. They take collective action to clean up and become “open defecation free”.
3) UV light sanitation, also known as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation
It’s mainly used in hospitals. The UV light kills the bacteria regardless of how strong or drug resistance. Also, you will not use toxic chemicals.
UV sterilization is very useful and kills over 99% of viruses like fungi and bacteria within a short time.
There are several types of UV treatments that have been developed as a result of its effectiveness.
How to use UV light sanitation?
You can install UV devices like lights and lamps at the top of rooms, stairs, and other circulation areas. It will help to disinfect the air in the building. Also, improve the air quality.
People need to practice proper sanitation and hygiene in order to avoid getting sick or spreading diseases.