Message of the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Global Handwashing Day is celebrated every 15 October, because handwashing is one of the most important ways to prevent disease and save lives.
The theme this year is “Our Future is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together” recognizing the global movement promoting handwashing as a key way to prevent COVID-19 transmission, and the need to keep building on this momentum even after the pandemic.
Despite the global attention to hand hygiene, too many people around the world still lack access to soap and water. For example, in African countries only around one in four households have handwashing facilities with soap and water.
As part of the response to COVID-19, countries, partners and communities are investing so that more people can wash their hands frequently. In most countries, authorities have placed handwashing facilities at bus stations, markets and health-care facilities. Zambia has gone a step further, introducing mobile handwashing stations with ramps and levers that can be operated by knees, feet or hands for people living with disabilities.
Homegrown solutions have popped up across Africa. In Ghana, for instance, a taxi driver fitted an automated handwashing machine on his car for passengers to use. In Kenya, nine-year-old Stephen Wamukota invented a hands-free washing facility that uses a foot-operated lever. The challenge now is to scale-up these and other innovations, and this is where public-private partnerships and funding incentives can play a key role.
Through cooperatives or similar institutions, governments could make available small loans to households for indoor plumbing and washbasins. This would help to drive progress towards the global target of hand hygiene access for all by 2030.
In June 2020, UNICEF and WHO launched the Hand Hygiene for All (HH4A) initiative, thanks to which 40 countries, including 22 from Africa, have developed roadmaps towards universal hygiene coverage. Partnerships with the private sector and civil society will be critical in successfully implementing these roadmaps.
So today as we celebrate Global Handwashing Day, I encourage governments, partners and communities to intensify strategies to increase access to safe water and sanitation, as indeed handwashing with water and soap is among the most cost-effective interventions for reducing the transmission of diseases. I urge everyone to remember "each second, save lives – wash your hands" to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.
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