Call for effort to “double” current efforts on water and sanitation
Federal Government has hailed the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the European Union for aiding the provision of potable water and ensuring sanitation in Nigeria, according to a recent report on the Nigerian Voice website, which also warns of the importance of effective hand washing provision for children in the country.
The article, by Olawale Adewale, stated that Olumide Osanyinpeju gave the commendation at a Media Dialogue for selected journalists on a Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Project held in Jos, Plateau State. Mr Osanyinpeju is the Deputy Director of the Child Right Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
“It is a fact that UNICEF and EU has been in the forefront of ensuring that we have access to safe drinking water supply, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene in our environment and communities.”
The article highlights the call to action to journalists by Mr Osanyinpeju, as he urged them to help increase awareness to “double the current efforts on water and sanitation” and utilising it to ensure effective hand washing at key times.
“Washing hands with soap after going to the toilet or before eating can have a significant impact on children’s health. Good hygiene practices reduce the incidence of diseases such as pneumonia, trachoma, scabies, skin and eye infections and diarrhoea-related diseases like cholera and dysentery.”
The UNICEF website describes WASH as follows:-
“WASH is the collective term for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Due to their interdependent nature, these three core issues are grouped together to represent a growing sector. While each a separate field of work, each is dependent on the presence of the other. For example, without toilets, water sources become contaminated; without clean water, basic hygiene practices are not possible.”
Effective hand washing – even in the remotest areas of Africa
The TEAL WashStand is especially designed to provide an effective soap and water hand wash – wherever it’s needed.
Being robust, easy to clean and easy to transport, it just needs to be filled with clean water and positioned where it will provide the maximum benefit for any local community. It need no electricity or mains water supply to function effectively.
The WashStand uses water very sparingly and is able to deliver 40 effective washes per filling.
Dirty water is stored in a separate tank and can easily be emptied away.