9 000 children die from diarrhoea

As the department of water and sanitation celebrates Global Hand-washing campaign to encourage cleanliness and hygiene…

The department of water and sanitation last weekend celebrated a global campaign to encourage nations to wash their hands regularly with soap to avoid diseases spreading easily.

This is in response to a survey which revealed that many lives are lost through water borne diseases. According to a 2014 household survey, there were over 60 000 cases of childhood diarrhoea per month, and approximately 9 000 child deaths.

According to provincial sanitation officer Aggrey Mohapi, October 15 was Global Hand-washing Day, a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of hand-washing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Global Hand-washing Day is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times. The 2016 campaign theme is “Make Hand-washing a Habit”.

Mohapi urged people to heed the hand-washing call to avoid spreading diseases unnecessarily.

“This campaign was initiated to reduce mortality rates related to diarrhoeal diseases. Hand-washing with soap is the single most effective way to prevent diarrhoea and other hygiene-related diseases.

“The challenge now is making sure that the habit of constantly washing hands with soap becomes a habit adopted by communities. The department wants the campaign to remind people of their responsibility to maintain a hygienic and healthy environment.

“Global Hand-washing Day aims to instil the habit of washing hands with soap at critical times amongst children, caregivers and the general South African public, to curb preventable life threatening infections related to poor hygiene and diarrhoea,” he emphasised.

During this month, the department will be running awareness campaigns in collaboration with the provincial departments of health and basic education as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund.