Health/hygiene, sanitation, and water: Is cleanliness next to whatever has replaced godliness?

The old dictum, Cleanliness is next to godliness, attributed to the theologian and philosopher Saint Thomas of Aquinas may ring hollow in the ears of many in the world today, to whom access to appropriate sanitation and safe drinking water is denied. During St Thomas’ lifetime, about 800 years ago, godliness was the highest moral virtue to which believers aspired; and cleanliness of the body and the spirit was next. In this day and age of globalization however, where some highly educated, trained and skilled physicians reportedly still do not bother to wash their hands after touching one infected wound or contaminated object, before they go to touch the next patient; it seems hard to decide whether cleanliness is a virtue or a vice, or both; and where it sits in relation to godliness, or whatever has replaced godliness. There are “global giants”, multinational companies such as Unilever, who have amassed excessive amounts of wealth by means of highly skilled and successful social marketing of soap and other detergents for domestic use in both rich and poor countries1 , ethically. What once seemed to be a simple act of washing hands with water and soap to remove dirt now seems no less complicated and worthwhile than the art and science of heart surgery, at least in terms of getting it absolutely right – without killing the patient.