It’s human nature that when we don’t see a problem with our eyes, we don’t consider it a problem. Thus we ignore the cross-contamination issue because we don’t see it. Many of us, especially the young and fit, have a robust immune system that can fight for us. Still, we must also realise that some people have weak immune systems. It could be children, the elderly, cancer patients, hospital patients, or anyone with health conditions in our family.
People living with Cancer and their supporting families know the consequences of cross-contamination. It is so bad that patients’ immune systems drop below zero after the chemotherapy because there are hardly any white cells left in the body. Getting exposed to unseen germs and bacteria can be fatal at any point.
However, one of the places where people are exposed to dangerous germs is in the public washrooms. In fact, during hand drying. Many may not know, but hand dryer units are the top 3 infectious disease transmission pathways in a public washroom, according to many studies.
Even though we often try to wash our hands, It has been clinically proven that most hand dryer users either do not wash their hands correctly or do not wash their hands at all. They just wet their hands and take it straight to the hand dryer. In this situation, germs in the hands are blown into the air and become airborne for about 10 – 15 minutes.
Now imagine someone with a weak immune system walking into a busy washroom at a busy fast food restaurant, motorway services, bus or train station etc. Without knowing, they will take an invisible cocktail of germs home and end up in the A&E later.
It’s hard to put a fully measured figure on how Hand dryers transmit germs. Still, the example above can paint a decent picture of cross-contamination, an unseen enemy, the propeller of pandemics, a problem facing everyone.
Witnessing my son’s journey during his cancer battle made me go the extra mile while designing Hygiene Ace® Smart Splash Guards. Initially, I wanted to produce a washroom product that would enhance washroom hygiene and reduce carbon footprint. But after so much research and reading the work of Prof. Mark Wilcox et al., I realised cross-contamination is a more severe challenge in public washrooms than I had thought. So I dug into anti-microbial/nano properties. I researched as much as possible and found a way to include it with Hygiene Ace® in a way that would not compromise the sustainability aspect of the product.
Hygiene Ace® products are manufactured with an Antimicrobial/Nano coating which is permanently bonded to all components – creating a protective barrier that continuously eliminates microorganisms on contact.
With this, we have stepped up the game from just capturing most of the splash coming from users’ hands to killing them instantly.
This effort would significantly reduce cross-contamination in public washrooms like never before. Nonetheless, further scientific research is needed to explore the full potential of Hygiene Ace® innovation. We are currently researching and exploring opportunities to improve what we have, even after the product launch.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR US AS A COMPANY
Moje Solutions as a company aims to, by all means, provide practical, workable solutions to the world’s current problems while keeping environmental sustainability at the centre of our inventions. Our business model is not focused on financial profit but rather on the need to solve problems without compromising the prosperity of our ecosystem. Hence our products and or services are designed to make lives easier, better, healthier and, at the same time, reduce carbon footprint significantly.