Our hands are naturally covered by useful bacteria. However, we can pick up harmful microbes from the things we touch. Hand hygiene is possibly the single most effective way of reducing and preventing the spread of these microbes and any associated infection.

Schools and community groups are a relatively crowded and closed environment where microbes can spread easily and rapidly from child to child via direct contact or via surfaces. Effective hand washing has been shown to reduce absenteeism rates in schools.

This lesson plan supports students to see how microbes can spread from hand to hand, why thorough hand washing with soap is so important for infection prevention, and how to wash hands effectively.