"A Hand-washing Day? I've never seen such a thing!"

The Governor of the Central East region encouraged others to hold a hand-washing day.

Credit: WaterAid

22 October 2008

"A Hand-washing day? I've never seen such a thing!" exclaimed a surprised villager when told of the international celebration.

This is indicative of the fact that so few people know about the need to wash their hands with soap at critical times – before meals and after using the toilet. While hand washing has been proved to prevent deaths from diarrhoeal illnesses such as cholera, a survey conducted in eight Local Governments revealed that only 1 - 7% of people practice this low cost desease prevention.

Regional and national authorities attended the international Hand-washing day hosted by the WASH initiative of the Central East region of Burkina Faso on October 15. During the celebrations the Governor of the region formally called on 30 Mayors and Education Directors to host a Hand-washing day at their various levels.

Before he symbolically washed his hands, the Governor said: "Hand washing is a simple behaviour that saves lives."