The act of hand washing has never been as important as it is now. While handwashing is the best defence against viral infections such as COVID-19, the access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) facilities are not always within a reach. These 5 hand hygiene innovation are trying to breakdown the barriers.
October 15 is Global Handwashing Day. Under the theme “hand hygiene for all”, Global Handwashing Day promotes the vital importance of an equal access of water & soap for everyone everywhere to prevent diseases and save lives. The novel COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed the entire fat of the normal life as we used to know it.
Hand Hygiene Innovation
Innovation play a major role in behaviour change. Providing people innovative products that really work and improve their lives in a good way to make sure behaviour changes sticks. Int he spirit of creating a sustaining hand hygiene, ChangeMakr Asia take a look at 5 innovate ideas and intervention to promote “hand hygiene for all” around Asia :
1. HappyTap / LaBobo – Cambodia & Vietnam
HappyTap is the world’s first affordable, portable sink designed for low-income settings, purpose-built for handwashing. HappyTap removes barrier and helps habit formation not only for kids, bit also for caregivers, teachers, elderly people, People with disabilities, nurses, etc via their inclusive design.
During COVID-19 pandemic, HappyTap makes handwashing possible for immediate infection & prevention control (IPC) in households, schools, healthcare & quarantine facilities.
Via rapid prototyping and extensive user-testing with children, caregivers in South and Southeast Asia, HappyTap has brightly coloured with attractive aesthetics. It serves as a visual nudge or cue, and makes hand washing convenient to insert into daily routines.
HappyTap has large-scale production and distribution capacity, as well as local distributors in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.
2. Barrel Handwash Station – Nepal
Bhutan Toilet organization has designed a hand wash station reusing oil barrels which has the capabilities to address the pressing issues faced by schools due to lack of adequate infrastructure. This simple solution was created by Bhutan Toilet Organization’s staffs as part of UNICEF WASH innovation Challenge 2017, where they received the highest recommendation form the jury.
Following are the three features of their barrel hand wash station :
- It’s simple and cheap to build, which schools can afford to replicate
- It’s portable and can be placed at the most accessible locations, both indoor or outdoor
- It has its own talk to tech and store water to address water scarcity and inconsistency
Not only the ideas is openly shared with schools, they also encourage each school to have a few of barrel hand wash stations and reusing shampoo containers as hand wash soap dispensers.
3. D’Boxter – Indonesia
D’Boxter is the first 3-in-1 touchless portable hand washing station and sterilisation machine made in Indonesia. Using only low electricity requirement (150 watt), this 3-in-1 machine can wash hands up to 250 times, 750 times hand sanitising and hand drying.
Mega Mahendra, the inventor as well as the CEO of Daiva Arta Semester, claims that this machine is perfect solution to enhance the overall hygiene solutions especially for public spaces, such as schools, offices, markets, shopping malls, airports, and etc.
4. SATO TAP – Japan / India
Sato Tap is a novel handwashing station aims to improve hygiene for millions around the world. SATO Tap suitable for anywhere in the home, or for shared use in communities. It has a unique nozzle that releases just enough water to practice safe hygiene and is operated with a simple nudge ensuring minimal contact when it is shared household or communities.
The base enables users to tip the nozzle down to release a steady flow of water – just enough to wash your hands while saving enough water to use multiple times. Tipping the nozzle back up stops the flow of water and keeps the water in a closed environment, mitigating the risk of it becoming contaminated.
SATO Tap is easy to refill with water and offers a convenient place to keep soap.
Here are the three benefits of theSATO Tap :
- A easy, portable solutions for each households, especially in the rural areas with only a handful communal water facilities.
- Less water, less contamination. SATO Tap has unique nozzle that releases just enough to practice safe hygiene with a simple nudge.
- Can be localized for usage in markets around the world. PET bottles serve as tanks for the handwashing station and have been tested with various bottle shapes for compatibility.
5. EasyWash – Bangladesh
EasyWash is the innovative systems hand-washing for monitoring. A patented IOT Based smart hand-washing monitoring device that can track the practice of hand washing with soap of the students.
Headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, EasyWash offers a flexible target audience, ranging from schools, health centres or public places in general. Using a smart, real-time monitoring systems using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT), real tima is logged onto a central server for further processing.
EasyWash coupled their system with incentives for students in schools. Shiroma Weerathunge’s team from Sri Lanka proposed a system for schools, homes and health centres, that provides correct hand washing steps, encourages users through education and happy washing moments, and tracks their status through a website and a mobile app.
All in all, these hand hygiene innovations goes beyond COVID-19 response. Each innovation determined to make water, sanitation and hygiene normal for everywhere.
Also Read :
Covid19 has clearly demonstrated that safe and accessible water, sanitation, and hygiene are crucial to saving lives. Find out why
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