Water & Sanitation for Urban Poor educates Ayigya residents on hygiene

Handwashing demonstrations

Source: WSUP

As part of activities to commemorate this year’s Global Hand washing Day, Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP), held an awareness creation program to educate and promote proper hand washing with soap techniques among the residents of Ayigya Zongo community in Kumasi.

The essence of the event was to reverse the death of millions of children in developing countries each year from diarrhoeal and acute respiratory infections which results from unhygienic practices. Thus according to WSUP; introducing simple behavioural changes like hand washing with soap can greatly reduce this and ensure the welfare of many children and communities. 

WSUP is a non-profit partnership between the private sector, NGOs and research institutions focused on solving the global problem of inadequate water and sanitation in low-income urban communities.

A message from Unilever Ghana, a key partner to the children was that “always remember the five occasions during the day to wash your hands: before breakfast, lunch and dinner, after using the washroom and while taking a bath”. 

More so, since the fight against unhygienic tendencies is a collaborative one, there were representatives from Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) who demonstrated to the children the correct way to wash hands, which is, “concentrating on the fingernails and stretching down to the elbows”. 

In that vein the participating children who converged at Ayigya Zongo School Park were used as ‘agents of change’, and inculcated with good hygiene practices to effect change in the community.

Donation

WSUP and Clean Team Ghana donated public hand washing facilities while Unilever Ghana distributed bars of soap and hygiene materials to the Ayigya Zongo School. On the other hand, CWSA distributed hand washing stickers to the school authorities to be displayed at vantage points on their campus to constantly remind the children to wash their hands with soap. 

About Global Hand washing Day

Global Hand washing Day is celebrated globally on 15th October each year. It’s a day set aside by the international community to advocate for improved hygiene practices and raise awareness about the importance of hand washing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases. 

The theme for this year’s celebration was ‘The power is in your hands’, a theme emphasising that everyone can effect change. Children, teachers, parents, local government, private sector, non-profits and every community member can improve the health of their communities by ensuring good hand hygiene practices.