BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
Minister of State Environment, Barr Sharon Ikeazor (middle) flanked by pupils, students and teachers in commemoration of the Global Handwashing Day at Federal Government Boys College Apo, Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO BY CHIKA OKEKE.
Committed to enforcing safe sanitation and hygiene, the federal government has directed States, Environmental Health Officers (EHO's), development partners and other stakeholders across the country to step-up campaign on handwashing so as to curtail the transmission of diseases.
The Minister of State Environment, Barr Sharon Ikeazor stated this in Abuja yesterday, in commemoration of the 2021 Global Handwashing Day with the theme, “Our Future is at Hand–Let’s Move Forward Together”.
This is even as she emphasised that the Ministry would set up sanitation desks in all the thirty-six states and FCT to commemorate the day and embark on activities aimed at promoting good handwashing practices.
The first Global Handwashing Day, which was celebrated in 2008, raised awareness on the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way of preventing diseases, saving lives and attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 6.
She lamented that despite measures taken by the ministry in collaboration with stakeholders on safe sanitation and hygiene, that the level of compliance to handwashing in Nigeria remains low, thus increasing the spread of infectious diseases.
She stated that 40 percent of the world’s population, which is approximately three billion people lacked handwashing facilities with water and soap at home, just as more than 3.5 million children suffer from diarrheal diseases.
The minister noted that children below 5-year-old are prone to such diseases due to lack of knowledge on the importance of handwashing, adding that washing hands with soap could reduce infections by 50 percent and respiratory diseases by 25 percent.
She informed Nigerians that cleaning hands with soap and water removes germs more effectively and reduces the risk of disease transmission, when she added, "For every one hundred naira (N100) spent improving sanitation and hygiene, between three hundred (N300) and four hundred naira (N400) is saved, which can be invested in health, education, social and economic development".
The minister added that the choice of a school to commemorate this year’s global hand washing day is quite deliberate, as children including those at school are at a higher risk of contacting infections associated with poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
Ikeazor said, "We are carrying out proper education on hygiene and handwashing to enable schools entrench the culture of proper handwashing in children and help prevent disease transmission, particularly diarrhea and pneumonia, two of the leading causes of death in children globally.
She commended Procter and Gamble for donating handwashing items, just as she urged the media to join forces with the ministry and other stakeholders in propagating the message of handwashing to Nigerians as one of the measures reduce diseases.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Engr Hassan Musa sought for collective and coordinated actions to promote and institutionalise hand hygiene at all levels.
He said that global handwashing day not only raises awareness but also provides a platform for sustainable actions at global, regional and national levels on acceptable handwashing practise.
On his part, the Senior Manager, Nigeria and Africa Expansion Markets, Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Procter and Gamble, Mr Ridwan Sorunke said that handwashing has taken centre stage as one of the frontline defense mechanism against COVID-19.
He stated that P&G is committed to promoting handwashing as an effective way to reduce the spread of diseases, adding that the organisation is creating awareness on the importance of handwashing with soaps such as Safeguard.
In commemoration of handwashing day, Sorunke said that P&G donated handwashing stations and over 5, 000 Safeguard soaps for schools in the FCT, in collaboration with the ministries of Environment and Education.
Sorunke said that P&G remains a strong economic partner with significant investments and manufacturing footprint in Nigeria, noting that globally, 100 percent of their production sites send zero manufacturing waste to landfill.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Arc Sonny Echono said the theme calls for coordinated action towards universal hand hygiene, a historical practise that is currently neglected.
Also, the Vice Principal Academic, Federal Government Boys College, Apo, Mrs Mary Nnanwodo thanked the federal government for choosing the school to host this year’s global handwashing day.
At the end, Barr Ikeazor presented sanitation and handwashing equipments donated by P&G to schools in the FCT that clinched the first, second and third positions during the quiz competition organised by the ministry.
They are: City Royal School, Nyanya; Federal Government Staff Nursery and Primary School Kwali and Federal Government Girls College Staff Foundation, Bwari.
Nine schools also received anti-bacterial soaps donated by P&G.
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