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Global Handwashing Day and World Food Day observed

DUBAI — The Dubai Municipality’s Food Control Department on Monday organised a special programme at Stargate in Zabeel Park to mark the occasions of Global Handwashing Day and World Food Day.

Director of the department Khalid Mohammed Sharif Al Awadhi said that both the events were clubbed together due to the close relation with each other.

The Global Handwashing Day was organised to raise awareness of the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent communicable diseases. The day was originally observed by World Health Organisation on October 15 with the slogan

“Be aware, wash with care!” Organised in cooperation with Lifebuoy, Stargate, Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance and Al Bayader, the programme was inaugurated by one of the students who participated.

Assistant Director-General for Health, Safety and Environment Monitoring Sector of the municipality Salem Bin Mesmar said that handwashing with soap can save millions of people from falling sick due to diarrhoeal diseases. “It can also prevent skin infections, eye infections, intestinal worms, SARS and avian flu,” he said.

“After using the toilet, before and after handling or eating food, touching selected raw food (particularly raw meat, fish, and poultry products) and after changing diapers are the critical moments when hands should be washed with soap,” he said.

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