Regular hand washing with soap under running water to eradicate germs and other diseases is the surest way to keep us safe and healthy, the Greater Accra Regional Director, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Mrs Safuratu Mohammed Andani, has stated.
She said that the spread of COVID-19 could be contained if people adhered to all the protocol.
Mr Andani was addressing students of the Kweiman M/A Junior High School, at Kweiman in the Adentan Municipality, to commemorate the Global Hand Washing Day on Friday, which was held on the theme: “Our Future is at Hand-Let’s move Forward Together.”
He said that the day was meant to raise awareness among young people on the appropriate method of handwashing.
Mrs Andani said it was necessary to raise awareness among young people of the need to adopt acceptable measures to prevent diseases.
Mrs Rhoda Atatsi, Health Promotion Officer at the Danfa Health Centre, advised the school children to wash their hands not less than 20 seconds to remove all germs, which might have been trapped in their finger nails.
She also urged them to desist from keeping long finger nails since germs could easily hide there, adding that those who kept them should concentrate more on washing their hands thoroughly.
Mrs Atatsi said “Wash your hands as frequent as possible, especially when you touch a sick person stressing that the risk of not washing the hands regularly could result in contracting cholera, diarrhoea and other diseases”.
Mr Peter Geh, the Assemblyman of the area, said it was necessary to educate residents on how to manage solid and liquid waste since it was convenient for them to dispose of waste without paying.
He noted that people found it unacceptable and expensive to purchase dustbin and pay monthly fee for waste disposal.
The school children performed drama to demonstrate the essence of hand washing.
BY RAYMOND KYEKYE