UNICEF trains 10, 000 school children on hand washing

The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has groomed over 10, 000 children in Boki and Yakurr local government areas of Cross River State on benefits of effective hand washing.

The children who were drawn from over 200 schools in both councils will also act as UNICEF ambassadors of hygiene in terms of hand washing and general hygiene in the state.
 
The UNICEF hand washing training programme which was handled by Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH), saw pupils in their thousands from various schools and communities as they marched out in their colourful uniforms to wash their hands with water and soap or ashes thus keying into the global hand washing day themed “Our hand our future”.

In an interview, the Boki council WASH Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Agbor said, “Monkey Pox is a contagious disease and if you touch without washing your hands, you may contact it and spread it to other persons, so hand washing stands as a very big barrier to the transmission of this disease and any other one that may have similar means of transmission”.

He said “if we do it at critical times like after using the toilet, when we touch animals and after changing baby’s diapers, certainly good health is guaranteed.”
 
On his part, the facilitator, Mr. Samuel Itodo, said, “UNICEF is supporting communities through the schools to promote hand washing at all times.  
 
In Yakurr, the Director, Environmental Health, Ugep Urban Development Authority, Izong Lebo, said for the culture of effective hand washing to be part and parcel of everyday life, the authorities concerned should make laws that would promote hygiene among all and sundry. 

On his part, the WASH Consultant, Mr. Collins Njoku, said, “when children practice hand washing from infancy, they will become change agents in their schools and even their communities.