October 15: World Handwashing Day, International Day of Rural Women
Kyiv • UNN
Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician, first suggested washing hands with soap in 1847. At that time, he was working at the Vienna Hospital and thought about the problem of high infant mortality and postpartum fever in women.
Today, October 15, various events are taking place in many countries around the world to mark World Handwashing Day. The event was launched in 2008 at the initiative of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNN reports.
The goal of the event is to draw the attention of children and adults around the world to the need to follow personal hygiene rules and wash their hands with soap, as this is the cheapest and most effective way to prevent infectious diseases.
More than 120 million children from 70 countries joined the first Handwashing Day in 2008.
Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician, first suggested washing hands with soap in 1847. At that time, he was working at the Vienna Hospital and thought about the problem of high infant mortality and postpartum fever in women.
Zemmelweis suggested that medical workers treat their hands with a solution of bleach. As a result, the mortality rate among patients decreased dramatically.
Since 1995, October 15 has been the International Day of Rural Women.
According to the UN, more than 25% of the world's population is made up of women living in rural areas.
In Ukraine, before the full-scale invasion, 30-35% of the population lived in rural areas, of which more than 50% were women.
October 15 is also White Cane Day, an event dedicated to blind people.
The history of this attribute of blind people dates back to 1921. A young resident of Great Britain, James Biggs, lost his sight in an accident. But he decided to get used to the situation and continue to move around the streets on his own with the help of a cane.
James quickly realized that a black cane would not help in such circumstances, as it would not be perceived by pedestrians or car drivers. So he painted the cane white to make it more visible. Other blind Englishmen adopted this useful experience, and then blind people in Europe and America began to use white canes.
Since 1988, more and more countries have joined the Day of the Lost Child on October 15.
The event is dedicated to the memory of babies who were not born due to miscarriages, died due to sudden infant death syndrome, stillborn babies, and babies who died for other reasons.
According to the church calendar, today is the Day of Remembrance of the Martyr Lucian of Antioch.
Lucian lived in the third century. At a young age, after the death of his parents, he gave away all of his family's possessions to the poor and decided to devote his life to serving the Lord.
The people of Antioch elected him bishop. As the persecution of Christians intensified, Lucian was thrown into prison. There he died of torture and starvation.
According to legend, Lucian's body was thrown into the sea. After 30 days, dolphins brought the body to shore, and the people buried their bishop.
On October 15, Lukian, Denys, Ivan, Semen, and Dmytro celebrate their name days.
