OUR STAFF REPORTER SADIQABAD - Every year, about 3.5 million children under the age of five die of the diseases which spread through dirty hands, an expert told various schoolchildren as the hand washing awareness week is being observed here. The observation of Global Hand Washing Day and awareness week is aimed at mobilising children about the disease which spread through dirty hands so that deaths occurrence due to such disease could be controlled, Buniyad-Unicef Resuming Education Project Coordinator Abdul Aleem said. He was addressing the walks and seminars held in a number of schools including Government Primary School Ismail Chachar, Masjid Maktat School Ghazran and Boys Primary School Ahmadabad. The week is being observed by the Buniyad Foundation in collaboration with Unicef. On the occasion, Malik Qasim Rabbini said that the children who are far away from general hygiene principles, live in unhygienic atmosphere and do not wash their hands with soap, can get pneumonia, diarrhea, bacteria and other diseases related to eyes and skin. Such children, he added, need to be educated about cleanliness so that they can live a clean and better life. During special sessions, Social Organiser Junaid Nawaz make the kids practise hand washing. He also stressed the need for washing hands with soap to kill the germs. Later, the foundation on behalf of Unicef, distributed hygiene kits containing soap, towel, toothpaste brush and nail cutter among the students. However, the locals appreciated the foundations efforts for marking the hand washing week. The practice of hand washing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda on October 15th, with the celebration of Global Hand washing Day. Hand washing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for the deaths of over 3.5m children under the age of 5 every year. In developed countries, hand washing helps to prevent the spread of viral infections, such as norovirus, rotavirus and influenza. Although people around the world wash their hands with water, many do not wash their hands with soap at critical moments, including after going to the toilet and before handling or eating food. The challenge is to transform handwashing with soap from an abstract good idea into an automatic behaviour carried out in homes, schools, workplaces and communities. Global Handwashing Day is the centrepiece of a week of activities that aim to mobilise millions of people to wash their hands with soap. This simple activity could save more lives than any vaccine or medical intervention, preventing the spread of infection and keeping children in school. Follow are the simple steps to keeping hands clean: (1) Wet your hands with warm running water, (2) add soap, then rub your hands together, making a soapy lather. Do this away from the running water for at least 20 seconds, being careful not to wash the lather away. Wash the front and back of your hands, as well as between your fingers and under your nails, (3) Rinse your hands well under warm running water. Let the water run back into the sink, not down to your elbows, (4) Dry hands thoroughly with a clean towel. Then turn off the water with a clean paper towel and dispose in a proper receptacle.