Key stakeholders commit to handwashing with soap

31 October 2009

Student Halima Issah (top) and journalist Tony Sabuki (bottom) pledge their commitment to handwashing with soap.

Credit: WaterAid

Many Ghanaians including politicians, traditional leaders, school children, and water, sanitation and hygiene stakeholders have pledged their commitment to hand-washing with soap as part of Global Handwashing Day in Cape Coast. The commitment took form as hand prints on a canvas in the colours of Global Handwashing Day.

Over 750 school pupils participated in activities betweeb 13-15 October in the run up to Global Handwashing Day in Cape Coast. The three day event themed 'Saving lives through hand-washing with soap'.

The activities culminated with school children reading statements on behalf of sector stakeholders. Miss Victoria Tachie-Menson, of Saint Monica's Girls Schools, read a statement on behalf of WaterAid. She acknowledged that children are powerful agents of change that can influence behavior in schools, homes and communities. Miss Tachie-Menson called on the Government to provide hand-washing facilities in all schools across the country, to help create a habit of washing hands with soap.

A series of activities to commemorate the celebrations included a children's media forum, a street procession through the principal streets of Cape Coast, and a national launch of Global Handwashing Day. The children's media forum was held to sensitize school children and media personnel in the Cape Coast Metropolis on the importance of washing hands with soap. The children were very engaged with the forum asking many questions and re-itterating the call on the Government to provide hand-washing facilities in their schools. Speaking at the forum the Extension Services Coordinator of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Mrs Theodora Adomako-Adjei, indicated that the gains of providing water and sanitation will be lost without integrating hygiene, urging the children to become hand-washing ambassadors in homes, schools and communities. The pupils went on to lead a procession through the principal streets of Cape Coast bearing placards with hygiene messages.

Side events included mass hand-washing by pupils and members of the public, poetry recital about hygiene, and dance, drama and media awareness events. The celebrations were a Private – Public Partnership coordinated by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency.