BRIEF OF SUBMITTED SOLUTION

Hand hygiene is a critical measure in community mitigation strategies of the coronavirus during the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of COVID-19 pandemic, WASH stations are to be present in every location to encourage people wash their hands regularly. It has also been observed that people with access to handwash stations are two times more likely to wash their hands than those without access. In a bid to ensure non-contact with handwash stations, especially at public locations, technology has been greatly leveraged upon to build touchless handwash stations in public places.

 
According to the Centre for Disease Control, clean hands save lives. Hence, it is not sufficient to practice hand hygiene, but to ensure that the hands are clean after washing. To ensure clean hands after washing, the World Health Organization has recommended a handwashing time of 20s using a handwash or a hand sanitizer. However, research have shown that quite a number of people do not wash their hands as recommended due to factors such as lack of knowledge on handwashing practice, impatience among others. Hence, our innovation is aimed at ensuring that persons have clean hands after washing.

Our SmartGiene innovation leverages on artificial intelligence and Internet of Things to detect clean and unclean parts of the hands after washing. The SmartGiene innovation would be inbuilt with a sensor which would ensure that the recommended way of handwashing and the recommended time for handwashing is followed. The SmartGiene device comes with a fluorescent liquid as a handwash. This liquid has no side effects and is degradable in 20 seconds. After the application of the liquid on the hand, the hand is placed beneath the device which indicates what parts of the hands have been washed, the parts of the hands that have not been washed, and also indicate how clean and what parts of the hands are clean. Our SmartGiene hand device is different from other existing hand sensors in that existing devices only provide fluid and water for washing, but do not indicate whether the hands are clean or not. This device would be attached to the walls of buildings in strategic locations.