Hand Washing Can Save 100,000 Children – Minister
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said that 100,000 children can be saved from death, if they imbibe the habit of washing of hands.
Adewole said this at a hand washing demonstration event organised by Reckitt Benckiser, producers of Dettol, in Abuja.
The event, which sought to teach 3,000 children how to wash their hands, was held in commemoration of the Global Hand Washing Day.
The minister, who was represented by the National Coordinator Food Safety and Quality Programme, Mr. Fubara Chuku, also noted that constant washing of hands could be more effective than vaccines.
Adewole disclosed that about 150,000 children die yearly as a result of diarrhoea and other related diseases.
He said that over 2,000 school children drawn from seven public and private schools had benefited from Dettol’s School Hygiene Programme across four council areas in the Federal Capital Territory.
He further praised Reckitt Benckiser for donating 12 hand washing stations to help facilitate and maintain the habit of proper hand washing by the school children.
Stressing the importance of hand washing because of its great impact on the general well-being of all, the minister said the habit must be promoted for Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
He, therefore, commended the producers of Dettol for promoting the culture of hand washing amongst children.
Also, Speaking on Dettol’s 2018 Global Hand Washing Day activities, the General Manager, Reckitt Benckiser, West Africa, Mr. Dayanand Sriram, called on all Nigerians to imbibe the habit of hand washing.
He stressed that hand washing would reduce the incidence of communicable diseases by 59 per cent, as reflected in the recent findings of the World Health Organisation.
Sririam said, “Dettol has been the trusted champion for good health and hygiene for over 50 years in Nigeria and we believe that it is important to inculcate good habits such as proper hand washing at an early age.
“A simple act of hand washing with soap can prevent illness and arrest diarrhoea-related deaths. This is why we are continuing with the tradition of driving habit change, and provision of needed infrastructure.
“Over the past years, Dettol has provided hand washing sites and educated over seven million children, parents and teachers about the importance of hand washing through the School Hygiene Programme, which is a mass education program about proper hand washing and hygiene habits.”
By: Eniola akinkuotu, Abuja
The Punch News
