Dr.Mohammed Dan-Hassan, Executive Director ,Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), says regular hand-washing with soap and water is an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and have an overall healthy life.
Dan-Hassan said this in his address of welcome at a one-day sensitisation to commemorate the 2022 Global Hand Washing Day in Abuja, on Monday.
The News Agency of NIgeria ( NAN) reports that the 2022 Global Hand-washing Day themed “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene”is a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness about the importance of hand-washing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.
Dan-Hassan said that the hand was the first point of contact with micro-organisms and hand-washing played a significant role in reducing the transmission of outbreak related pathogens such as Cholera, Ebola and COVID-19.
According to him, the day is an opportunity to encourage people to maintain personal hygiene, including washing their hands, using hand sanitizers, and other appropriate toiletries.
“The day also observes government efforts in designing and sensitising the citizens regularly on hygiene.
“Practising hand-washing can contribute to an individual’s well-being, increase productivity, and much more, good hand hygiene is the foundation of disease prevention and control.”
Acting Chairman, FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) ,Alhaji Alhassan Suleh, who was represented by a Deputy Director, Mr Rabiu Kolawole, in his keynote address, said that it was now mandatory that students must wash their hands regularly in school.
”There should be hand washing materials at the gate and other strategic points in school even in the rural areas.
“We should all imbibe this culture in our educational structure to encourage students to keep to basic hand hygiene.
“In collaboration with NGOs ,water has been provided for hand-washing.
”For WHO to set aside a day to commemorate hand-washing it says a lot about the significance of hand-washing.” he added.
Earlier, Sapeyi of Garki, Alhaji Usman Ngakupi, stated that the hands were sensitive , because of contacts with a lot of activities, hence proper washing can prevent all sort of diseases.
“I urge all of us, especially the education department to inculcate this habit into our children so that they too can pass this practice on to other children wherever they go.”
His Royal Highness, Emir of Jiwa, Alhaji Idris Musa, who demonstrated basic steps to effective hand-washing, advised the students to always keep their hands clean at all times
He added that while washing their hands ,they must ensure that all angles of the hands and tips of the fingers were scrubbed adequately before washing under a running tap.
Mr Terfa Akpoyibo, Project Manager, Power Forward, said that peer to peer methodology was a good method to educate the pupils on inculcating the habit to children .
“In the FCT, we have donated 134 automated hand wash stations to 40 secondary schools across four FCT Area Councils, both in public and private secondary schools.
“We have educated more than 200,000 students on the right ways to wash their hands.” he explained.
NAN reports that Power Forward is an organisation in partnership with Exon Mobil , National Basketball Association and Pan Africare, to promote hygiene and sanitation.
Highpoints of the day were various demonstrations in playlets ,dance performances and demonstration of hand-washing by pupils of the Community Staff School , Asokoro, Abuja.
The Global Hand washing day is celebrated on every Oct. 15
