National Global Hand Washing day marked at Nadowli in U/W Region

The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Mushiebu Mohammed-Alfa has admonished Ghanaians to make hand washing part and parcel of their daily lives. 

He made the appeal at this year’s National Global Hand Washing day celebration at Nadowli in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region. 

According to GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo, the Hand Washing With Soap (HWWS) gospel was also preached in three other communities, one after the other to mark the Day. 

The communities were Kalsegra, Kpazie and Yiziri. 

The need was stressed for the people in the four communities which had Nadowli as the first point of call, to uphold Hand Washing With Soap promotional activities to sustain the practice. 

In his address to mark the Day, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Mushiebu Mohammed-Alfa pointed out that the celebration was aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about the significance of Hand Washing With Soap as an effective and affordable way of keeping diseases at bay. 

The theme for this year’s Day which is marked in over 180 countries including Ghana was “Make Hand Washing A Habit”. 

The Deputy Minister stated that Upper West was fortunate to host this year’s national event because it has chalked up a lot of successes in the implementation of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) concept leading to the construction of several household latrines in a number of communities. 

Commenting on HWWS promotion and practice, Dr Mohammed-Alfa said almost half of the communities in the Region have been covered with the intervention. 

He added that Upper West has a little over one thousand 100 communities and about 540 are covered with Hand Washing With Soap promotion. 

The Deputy Regional Minister commended Nadowli-Kaleo District for the strides in has made in declaring 24 of its communities as Open Defecation Free under the CLTS concept but called for the intensification of the campaign. 

The Upper West Regional Director of Community Water Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi stated that in spite of the progress the region has made in Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), there is still 72 percent open defecation. 

Mr. Siabi said only 28 percent of the people practice safe in hygiene and it suggests that there is a lot of work to do in the coming years. He pointed out that CWSA has noticed that a lot of the people who practice open defecation are unlikely to wash their hands. 

Mr. Siabi said “when somebody gets to the bush, he doesn’t carry water and soap along, and this 72 per cent come back from the bushes and shake the hands of the 28 percent and spread the faeces that they brought from the bush to the house people.” 

The DCE for Nadowli-Kaleo, John Bosco Bomansaan said the District has demonstrated great commitment to the WASH Program and has therefore made remarkable progress which has caught the attention of the most development partners in the WASH sector. 

This, the DCE observed makes it necessary parents for parents to inculcate in children the habit of hand washing to achieve the desired behaviour change and sustainability. 

The Chief Planning and Investment Analyst at CWSA Headquarters, Ms. Fay Ephraim entreated food vendors to provide soap for people, especially children to wash their hands before eating anything.


GBC