The Minster of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, has called on Nigerians to develop the culture of hand washing to reduce the spread of water-borne diseases.
Adamu made the call in Abuja on Thursday as part of activities to commemorate the 2016 Global Hand Washing Day, with the theme, `Make Hand Washing a Habit’, slated for October 15.
He said hand washing with soap represented a cornerstone of public health, saying it could be considered an affordable, accessible `do-it-yourself’ vaccine for sanitation and hygiene.
He said the theme, was in line with the soon to be unveiled Partnership for Extended Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) Programme, which aims at encouraging all stakeholders to make access to water and sanitation a priority.
He said globally, 1.7 million children reportedly died from diarrhoea and pneumonia annually, saying a good hand washing habit could significantly prevent these deaths.
He said cultivating a good hand washing habit would help keep children in schools, saying that 242 million school days were missed due to diarrhoea alone.
“Hand washing is a choice that everyone can make multiple times a day, when we choose hand washing; we are choosing to create a healthier environment not only for ourselves, but also for those around us.
“Good hygiene practices must be a habit which requires choosing to perform them on a regular basis, we should choose hand washing not only on Global hand washing day, but every day,” he said.
He said the ministry, in partnership with development partners, has trained hygiene education teachers, youth corps members and other stakeholders in the six area councils of the FCT on hygiene promotion.
Adamu said the ministry would also carry out group hand washing demonstration in schools to encourage children to be change agents to pass the message of behavioural change.
Mr Emmanuel Awe, Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, said the day was an opportunity to engage children as change agents in reducing the spread of preventable diseases.
He stressed the need to sensitise and advocate for more awareness from all stakeholders towards promoting hygiene messages.
Mr Kanan Nadar, UNICEF Chief of WASH, said the agency has carried out group hand washing demonstration with the use of tippy taps in 15 schools in Chikun Local Government of Kaduna.
He said part of activities to commemorate the day was to carry hygiene messages to 1,800 schools nationwide, and also demonstrate proper means of hand washing through the use of tippy taps.
Nadar called on the three tiers of government to increase budgetary allocations for scaling up access to WASH in the country.
Mr Micheal Ojo, Country Director, WaterAid Nigeria, called for behavioural change, saying Nigerians need to know why hand washing is important.
He said there was the need for hand washing facilities to be made available in all hospitals, saying Nigerians would live healthier and better.
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