Bongo (UE), Aug 28, GNA-WaterAid Ghana, a water and hygiene focused organization has presented 12 Foot-Operated Hand Washing Machines to six Municipal and District Assemblies in five regions as measures to the fight the spread of the coronavirus disease.
The areas include; Bongo and Kassena Nankana West districts in the Upper East Region, Wa Municipal Assembly in the Upper West Region, Ablekuma Central Municipal in the Greater Accra Region, Nanumba South district in the Northern Region and Kwahu Afram Plains North district in the Eastern Region.
The donation, which was done as part of WaterAid Ghana’s Clean Community Hygiene Campaign for COVID-19 project, dubbed, “Hygiene Behaviour Change Coalition for COVID-19” is being funded by the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom (DFID-UK) and Unilever.
Washing both hands under running water with soap is one of the recommended practices to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus Disease by the World Health Organization.
At a ceremony in Bongo to present the hands free machines to the various Assemblies, Mr Jesse Coffie Danku, Head of Programmes, WaterAid Ghana, on behalf of the Country Director said, WaterAid and its implementing partners had supported government-led campaigns against COVID-19 pandemic in the six MDAs.
WaterAid Ghana, through the project had ran hygiene technical training sessions for health workers in the six beneficiary areas and reached out to vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities through the mass and digital media campaign to help them observe the core hygiene behaviours recommended by World Health Organization, he said.
Mr Danku indicated that in consonance with WaterAid’s concepts on innovation and sustainability, WaterAid collaborated with a private Engineering firm, to design the foot operated hand washing facilities, not only to ensure the hands do not get contaminated after it had been washed, but also to minimize human element of refilling the storage tanks as the facility could be connected to a piped water system.
He said the facilities were supplied to support the behaviour change campaigns as people might not get access to hand washing facilities at public places to wash their hands.
The project, Mr Danku noted, would be training local artisans to support the production of foot operated hand washing facilities in the various districts which would also help to promote local ownership, capacity and entrepreneurship whilst fighting the pandemic.
Mr Daniel Kanyage, the Bongo District Coordinating Director, receiving the items on behalf of Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa, the Chief Executive for the area, expressed gratitude to WaterAid Ghana and its sponsors for their immense and continuous support to the district in diverse ways especially in times of need.
The Coordinating Director promised that facilities would be placed at vantage points in public places to support the fight against the spread of the pandemic.
