The UNICEF Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Manager in Maiduguri, Mamita Bora Thakkar has said that hand washing initiatives will require investments to access supplies and services to practice hand hygiene. According to her, the investments require leadership at all levels in communities and at national and global healthcare facilities. Thakkar made the call yesterday to mark Global Hand Washing Day at the Ramat Square, Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
“Currently, no dedicated budgets exist for hygiene and hand washing in the health sector at three the tiers of Government,” she said. She noted that hand hygiene needs are to be repositioned to inform government decisions on investments in the health sector. Speaking on water related diseases, she said: “You should be focusing on preventive health for the entire population suffering from water borne diseases.”
The General Manager of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWSSA), who was represented by Mohammed Aliyu; said that the practice of hand hygiene could create the culture where people keep their hands clean as a norm and habit to protect lives. He identified three pillars critical in the effective scale up of hand hygiene for all political leadership with an enabling environment to increase supply and demand for WASH. He however; warned that the traditional ways are unlikely to sustain behavioral change towards hand hygiene. Instead, behavioral programmes must change priorities and focus on the determination of hand washing, rather than on education alone.
Reiterating investments in WASH, he added: “Health workers, parents and children, including employees could play their roles in hand hygiene in health facilities and work places.” While lamenting the COVID-19 pandemic, he said: “Today, we’re confronting one of the worst public health crises in recent times with the pandemic that globally claimed about five million lives. He noted that countries are grappling with finding solutions to COVID-19 from prevention to treatment, WASH continue to remain at the core of all prevention strategies related to corona virus disease. He said ensuring good WASH services also prevent human to human transmission of COVID-19 virus and other related diseases.
Commissioner of Water Resources, who was represented by Babagana Abacha at the hand washing day with the theme: “Our future is at hand-let’s move forward together,” said that the state government in collaboration with UNICEF has put in measures to ensure safe potable water to households. According to him, elimination of germs through hand washing helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections, including skin and eye infections and COVID-19.
