Supertowel is a highly effective and durable handwashing tool. It might look like an ordinary towel, but it has a built-in antimicrobial layer that provides protection against pathogens, thus offering the user clean, germ-free hands even in situations where neither soap nor running water is available. Supertowel offers a simple, but high-tech, solution to a very real and serious health problem.
Supertowel has undergone repeated in-vivo tests showing that it is at least as efficacious in terms of bacteria removal as soap and water when used for handwashing1. Supertowel has also been and is being tested in real life under different field conditions2
Supertowel as a handwashing tool not only removes pathogens from the hands it also effectively kills them.
1 in 3 people globally do not have access to safe drinking water – UNICEF, WHO4
Billions of people around the world are continuing to suffer from poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene, according to a report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Some 2.2 billion people do not have safely managed drinking water services, 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities.
Handwashing protects against diarrheal diseases and pneumonia – the worlds top two killers3
During the time it takes you to wash your hands according to WHO recommendations one child under the age of 5 will have died from diarrheal diseases or pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. A staggering 1.8 million children die each year from these two diseases:
⇢Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.
⇢Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively.
⇢Handwashing education and access to soap in schools can help improve attendance.
Water. Access to clean water is a problem for a third of the world's population. When water resources are scarce, they are normally being prioritized for other purposes than handwashing, such as drinking water, food preparation, laundry etc. As a result, hand hygiene is being neglected. The consequence is a rise in the overall disease burden, especially diarrheal diseases and a foundation for epidemic outbreaks
⇢Supertowel offers handwashing even when no clean water is available.
⇢Supertowel uses only a fraction of the water that is normally needed for handwashing
⇢When handwashing facilities are not available or not functional due to lack of water or soap, Supertowel provides easy access to handwashing anywhere anytime.
⇢Allows people to use the scarce water supply for other purposes like drinking water, cleaning, laundry and food preparation.
⇢Supertowel can also be used for body washing, saving large amounts of water.
Hygiene
Facts. In 2017 according to UNICEF and WHO data4, 1.4 billion people had no handwashing facilities at home and 1.6 billion people had handwashing stations that lacked water or soap at the time of the survey. In effect almost half of the world’s population do not have an easy and convenient access to handwashing, which will lead to poor hand hygiene.
WHO defines 5 critical times for handwashing:
⇢After using the toilet/latrine
⇢After cleaning your child’s behind
⇢Before preparing food
⇢Before eating
⇢Before feeding your child
If you do not have access to a functioning handwashing station at home, washing your hands at these critical times becomes difficult. Just imagine having to prepare food over an open fireplace in a refugee camp, the food preparation will take long time and during the process you will have to do other tasks like cleaning your child’s behind, adding charcoal or wood to the fire, cleaning vegetables etc. After each of these tasks you need to wash your hands before continuing with the food preparation. It will not happen if the nearest handwashing station is 100 meters away.
⇢Supertowel can be kept at your side and offers easy access to handwashing anywhere, anytime
⇢Supertowel can be used for cleaning kitchen utensils and surfaces
⇢Even if all persons in the family does not have their own Supertowel, the Supertowel can be shared between family members
⇢If latrines are not available at the house or eating is taking place outside the home, Supertowel can easily be carried and used for hand hygiene
1.Link to lab study
2.Link to field study
3.https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/index.html
4.https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/330100/WHO-CED-PHE-WSH-19.149-eng.pdf