A study about the 4fs and their impact on human life

I wish to bring your attention to the early science you learnt when you went to a primary school. The teachers of science taught us about the 4fs. I wish to revisit them so that we take appropriate care to avoid diseases and sickness in our lives.

The 4fs are the:-

• ·         Fingers
• ·         Flies
• ·         Food
• ·         Feaces

Fingers: We use our fingers to do so many things.  Eating, climbing, playing, digging, washing, cleaning, greeting, driving and so many others are hand activities. From those activities our fingers collect germs which are dangerous to our lives from the environment. In most cases these germs end up in our mouths. The situation is worsened when the finger nails are too long that they become very hard to clean.

When you handle dirty objects or substances, greet people with your hands, work in dirty places, the germs inevitably get into your hands. This means you are likely to take them up with food. The result is sickness.

Wash your hands properly before you eat anything. Proper washing involves using much clean water with soap.

Flies: Flies are transmitters of disease causing germs. They are vectors. A vector is an organism that carries a disease causing germ. Flies are suited to transmit germs because:-

• ·         They feed from dirty places where germs are commonly found.
• ·         They have wings which enable them fly swiftly.
• ·         They have hairy bodies in which the germs attach.
• ·         Have very sensitive senses of smell which direct them to dead decaying matter.
• ·         Flies have compound eyes for sight.

With these features, flies transmit disease germs to man. After feeding from dirty places flies swiftly move to us. They like settling around the mouth area, nose and eyes if any of these parts are dirty. We can avoid flies by spraying them, and keeping proper sanitation and hygiene.

Food: Food is a necessity for man’s existence. Food takes so many foods forms. It may be in form of seeds, fruits, stem tubers, root tubers, or leaves. Certain foods are consumed fresh whereas others need to be cooked. Food may be obtained from above the ground, on the ground or below the ground.

The food people take requires thorough cleaning before it is consumed, in any form. It is a common practice for us to eat unwashed foods, especially fruits and stem tubers such as sugarcane. Many of us assume that fruits up on the trees are clean which is not true at all. Those fruits are exposed to flies, dust and unclean air which contaminate them. On many occasions some of the fruits fall onto the ground, and yet none of us knows how clean the ground may be.

Storage and presentation of food is very important too. Where do you keep the food and how do you keep it? Is the place where you keep your food clean and free of germs? If you keep food in unsafe places it is invaded with germs and it gets contaminated. Be careful about the cleanliness of the utensils you place the food, they need proper cleaning.

 I have seen school going children throwing their plates under beds or suitcases after a meal and remember them when another meal has come. They thus rush to wash them to have a new meal. Plates, cups and glasses require thorough washing with much and clean water; there must be soap, and they have to be dried. Their storage also should be a clean one.

Be careful about the hygiene of the foods you buy on roads while travelling. Remember also that your food must be properly cooked. Half cooked foods especially meat is very dangerous to man. 

Feaces: This is part of the human wastes. Apart from having a foul smell which is not bearable, human feaces are a serious source of contamination. Disposal of feaces is meant to be in a properly organized place. In every home, a toilet or latrine should be the cleanest place.

 The unfortunate bit is that many homes toilet facilities are not there or are in very poor states. I have seen mothers instruct young children to go and defecate being the house and the feaces are not removed immediately.

In certain cultures, pregnant mothers are discouraged to go to toilets. They say that the bad toilet gasses from there may cause mothers to miscarry and that babies may drop into pit latrines. But of course this is poor science.

Nowadays people are using potties for children feaces. What is disgusting is that after children have made use of them, people push them under beds or in house corners. In that way they become a serious source of contamination. Flies and roaches go to these potties to feast but after there they come back to us and our food.