Students taught on good sanitary practices

11-08-2010
Fourteen Primary and Junior High School students in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have been taken through good sanitary practices under a programme dubbed “Wash United Campaign”. The programme which aims at promoting proper hygiene and sanitary practices in schools and communities was spearheaded by the Foundation for Grassroot Initiatives in Africa (GrassRootsAfrica) an NGO with focuses on hand washing before and after meal. It was also geared at ensuring that people do not pollute the environment by defecating openly in schools and communities in which they live. Community members including chiefs and elders from Kandiga attended the programme. The Kassena-Nankana West District Director of Health Services, Mada Vida Abaseka commended GrassRootsAfrica for complementing the efforts of the Ghana Health Services in their quest to promoting good health through hygiene. She therefore entreated them to help extend the programme to other schools and communities in the region. Madam Abaseka also advised students, particularly, primary pupils to do proper hand washing with soap before and after meals and after visiting the toilet. This way, she noted, can contribute in preventing diseases such as cholera, malaria and typhoid. Madam Abaseka, however, appealed to chiefs, opinion leaders and assembly members to as a matter of concern encourage communal activities on environmental cleanliness at the various communities to reduce the heavy government expenditure on drug importation. The Project Co-ordinator of Wash United, Mr. Gildert Atanga urged stakeholders including District Assemblies and the GHS to provide toilet and urinal facilities for schools in the district, since most schools in the area lack these facilities, thus compelling them to defecate freely on school compounds. He indicated that the centre of the campaign were sports celebrities particularly celebrated football Stars such as Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Didier Droga, Abedi Pele Ayew among others. He explained that the programme used outdoor games competitions among school children and communities as a unifying factor and a way of assembling them to be able to drum home the message of the need for good sanitation practices in our homes and schools. A Policy Officer at Grass Roots Africa, Madam Viola Dasoberi said the programme was in tandem with government’s vision of achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality and morbidity in 2015. Students from the Sirigu Senior High School later stage a drama on the relevance of hand washing with soap before and after meals.