A campaigner demonstrating to the pupils
The Ashanti Regional Community Water & Sanitation Agency (CWSA) Friday joined hundreds of schoolchildren in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region to mark this year’s United Nations’ Global Handwashing Day.
The event which forms part of the campaign to get across the message that this simple routine is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases saw pupils from 60 schools washing their hands.
The schools of the children also benefitted from donations of bins and other washing bowls presented by the Water Service & Management Team (WSMT).
Ernest Agudetse, Extension Service Specialist of CWSA, called on Ghanaians to embrace more hygienic practices by the simple act of washing their hands.
“We need to make it a habit. The message we are really trying to get out is the importance of correctly washing our hands with soap and water at all times,” he said.
Luis Wadja, Bekwai Municipal Director of Education, said handwashing is needed most at critical times such as before one gets involved in food preparation, before eating and after using the toilet.
For him, washing hands with water alone is not enough as people come in contact with germs they could simply not wash off without applying soap.
“Using soap to wash hands is particularly recommended since this can reduce spread of diseases and other infections. Handwashing with soap is most desirable,” Mrs Mildred Aboagye Mintah, Secretary of WSMT, said.
FROM Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi