Bukom, Akoto Lante and Kwashia-Wee are three densely-populated low-income communities in Accra that have been selected for this year�s commemoration of Global Handwashing Day (GHD).
The event is marked on October 15 every year, to emphasise the need to wash the hands with soap, especially at critical times such as after using the toilet or before handling food, to prevent the spread of diseases.
Globally,the theme for the year is: �Choose Handwashing, Choose Health� and the national commemoration is taking place at the Bukom Square in Accra.
Activities to mark the day, which falls today, include interpersonal contact with a section of the public to deepen the importance of handwashing with soap, with the aim to increase awareness towards a sustainable behavioural change.
There will also be mass handwashing, distribution of aqua tabs for the purification of drinking water, and sensitisation of communities by volunteers and dignitaries. Places to be visited include houses, hospitals, clinics, markets, schools, lorry parks, major streets, churches, mosques, restaurants and chop bars.
Commenting on the theme, Mrs Theodora Adomako-Adjei, the National Co-ordinator for GHD and Extension Services Co-ordinator, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), said: �There cannot be any better theme to fit the current situation of the unprecedented cholera outbreak and the deadly Ebola scare.
�Cholera has affected over 18,902 people with 150 deaths in nine regions as of September 26, 2014. This is a wake-up call that washing the hands with soap should indeed be a daily practice.�
Mrs Adomako-Adjei said the hands often acted as principal carriers of disease-causing germs from person to person, either through direct contact or indirect through surfaces.
�Handwashing with soap has been scientifically proven as an affordable, simple and effective way to reduce the risk of diarrhoea diseases and respiratory infections,� she added.
She noted that the theme emphasised handwashing as a choice that everyone could make multiple times a day.
�When people choose to wash their hands with soap, especially after using the toilet and before handling food (such as before eating, cooking or feeding someone), they are choosing to create a healthier environment for themselves and those around them.
Good hygiene practices must become a habit, which requires choosing to perform them on a regular basis. People should choose handwashing not only on Global Handwashing Day, but every day,� she said.
Specific objectives
The specific objectives of the GHD are to raise awareness of the benefits of handwashing with soap, support the campaign for prevention of the spread of cholera and Ebola and sensitise teachers/pupils to understand and reinforce handwashing with soap.
It is also aimed at reinforcing existing behaviour change campaigns, foster and support local culture of handwashing with soap.
The activities will be carried out in collaboration with development partners, the National School Health Education Programme (NSHEP), UNICEF, the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD), CWSA, NADMO, NGOs and schools.
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