Too many young lives are lost to two lesser-known but very deadly diseases — acute respiratory infection and diarrheal illness.

Every year, more than 3.5 million children less than five years of age die from acute lower respiratory-tract infection and diarrheal illness. These two diseases are the 3rd and 5th leading causes of death worldwide and are responsible for more deaths annually than strokes and other cerebrovascular diseases.

The majority of these preventable deaths occur in lower-income countries where reliable sanitation resources are scarce and regularly-practiced personal hygiene is often considered taboo or impossible due to the exorbitant supply cost involved.

Several studies have shown that children living in households that received plain soap and hand washing educational materials had a 50% lower incidence of pneumonia, a 53% lower incidence of diarrhea and a 34% lower incidence of impetigo.

Because of these and other significant findings, it has been proven that hand washing with soap prevents the two diseases that cause the largest number of childhood deaths globally - diarrheal illness and acute lower respiratory infection. Also, hand washing along with daily bathing prevents impetigo, a contagious skin infection that usually produces blisters or sores on the face, neck, hands.

Recently, major initiatives to combat malaria, HIV and tuberculosis have begun, while interest in the intervention of these two clinical syndromes has waned. It is our mission at Clean the World to put an end to these unpopular global killers, but we can't do it without your support.

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