GWJN Ashanti Urges Ghanaians to Join Clean Hands Campaign

School children washing their hands
School children washing their hands

October 12, 2017//-October 15 is the day set aside every year as a global advocacy day to increasing awareness and understanding the importance attached to handwashing with soap.

The theme selected for this year is “Our Hands, Our Future” is in tandem with the goals of the Ashanti Regional Chapter of the Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalists Network  (GWJN) would brace up for stemming the tide in our quest to increasing this awareness.

The Ghanaian public will need to join the reins with the rest of the world to mark the Day on Sunday, October 15, 2017 and as journalists dedicated for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) development in our country, we wish to emphasise greater patronage during this year’s celebration.

“Our partnership with the Regional offices of the Ghana Red Cross Society  (GRCS), the Water Resources Commission (WRCR), Environmental and Sanitation Department and other related bodies would come to naught should we relent in our efforts to blow the whistle to improve lives through handwashing”, according to a press release jointly issued by the Co-ordinator of GWJN, Ibrahim Abubakar  and his executives.

Excerpts of the press release below

 According to the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP), handwashing with soap protects our own health but also allows us to build our own futures, as well as those of our communities and the world.

Handwashing with soap is an affordable and effective way of preventing many of the 272 million yearly schooldays lost to diarrhoeal disease and 50% of the infections acquired in healthcare settings.

Handwashing with soap has the power to improve access to education for children, protect the health of patients and communities and reduce inequities. It has an important role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – contributing to zero hunger, good health, quality education, reduced inequalities and more.

According to UNICEF, over 1.5 million children under five die each year as a result of diarrhoea – diarrhoea is the second most common cause of child death worldwide and that effective handwashing could place positive turns.

New studies suggest that handwashing promotion in schools can play a role in reducing absenteeism among primary school children. In China, for example, promotion and distribution of soap in primary schools resulted in 54 per cent fewer days of absence among students compared to schools without such an intervention – a lesson for the Ghana Education Service

Should Ghana, especially, Ashanti Region resort to handwashing with soap practice, sanitation improvement is anticipated thereby using Our Hands to build Our Future. Let’s all join the campaign!

JOINTLY SIGNED

Ibrahim Abubakar

(Co-ordinator)

Gideon Duodu

(Ag. Deputy Co-ordinator)

Ernest Best Anane

(Secretary)

Henry Atta Kotei

(Ag. Organiser)

 

African Eye Report

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