By Mildred Siabi-Mensah /Crossland Asante
Agyeman, GNA
Takoradi, Oct. 16, GNA – The Western Regional
Office of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has marked Global
Hand Washing Day with school children and traders at the central business
district of the STMA Metropolis.
The Agency, begun the Day under the theme:
“Clean Hands- A Recipe for Health” with a float through the major
roads in the Metropolis amidst placards display on the subject matter and
music.
Mr Mohammad Adana, Information Technology (IT)
Specialist for the company who read the Regional Director’s speech, said hand
washing with soap was critical in controlling diseases as the hands continue to
remain the largest carrier of vectors that transmitted diseases.
He said hand washing could cut the deaths of
diarrhoeal and other respiratory conditions than what a single vaccine or
medical intervention could achieve.
Mr Adama stated that intensification of hand
washing with soap and water promotion was also key in the reduction of cholera
cases annually.
The IT specialist said it was therefore
prudent that commitment was spurred in that process to increase awareness
especially on critical activities like eating, cooking or feeding.
The global hand washing activities would
stress on model good hand washing behaviours, making hand washing part of
family meals and promote effective hand washing behaviours change in research,
policy and programmes.
Ms Ruth Adu, the Regional SHEP Coordinator,
likened hand washing to direct vaccines with the potency to prevent diseases.
Nana Yaw Barnie, the Regional PRO of the Ghana
Water Company who chaired the event, said deaths under five could also be
reduced when parents ensured proper hand washing.
He said transforming hand washing with soap
from an abstract good idea into automatic behaviour performed in homes, schools
and communities nationwide was therefore critical to consolidate gains in that
area.
To this wise, children have been identified as
critical force for behavioural change and would be used as hand washing
ambassadors.
Children from the Effia Methodist School
dramatised proper hand washing approaches and the after effect of not washing
the hands properly.
GNA