Health Promotion Board encourages students to wash hands correctly to prevent HFMD

The number of hand, foot and mouth cases this year has surged. 

To date, there have been 31,590 cases, compared to 12,300 cases over the same period last year. 

To encourage students to wash their hands correctly, the Health Promotion Board has launched a Hand Hygiene Programme in primary schools. 

HFMD is an infectious viral infection characterised by symptoms like fever, sore throat, mouth ulcers, rash, lethargy, poor appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea.

This eight-step technique ensures all areas of your hands are thoroughly washed with soap. 

HPB estimates that hand washing can reduce cases of infectious diseases such as HFMD by about half. 

So it's gettting students to be Health Ambassadors - to remind their classmates to observe a high standard of personal hygiene - such as washing their hands before and after using the toilet. 

"Always wash hands after touching door knobs and others because there's a lot of germs on them as a lot of people are touching the same knob to open the door and to close the door." 

"We are reinforcing our personal hygiene education in the pre-schools and also in the primary schools. Primary schools - is because our studies have also shown that 14 per cent of the HFMD cases actually affect our Primary 1 and Primary 2 students."

HPB hopes to reach out to 200 primary schools through this programme, which also includes an interactive roving skit, over the next three years.