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Health Minister observes Global Hand-washing Day with no water
Ten million children under the age of five die every year because of illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and other diseases, all of which are due to the failure of practising prompt hand washing.
This notion was emphasised by Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy when he addressed a packed auditorium of pupils of the St Margaret’s Primary School as part of the observance of Global Hand-washing Day yesterday.
However, an actual hand washing demonstration with soap and water was hindered because there was no running water at the school.
The pupils were, however, able to sanitise their hands with some of the products donated by the private organisations.
For the first time the activity was observed in Guyana and 20 other countries across the five continents of the world.
Guyana’s observance saw the collaboration of the Ministries of Health and Education to emphasise the importance of proper hand washing.
Minister Ramsammy told the pupils that because proper and prompt hand washing is not practised, diarrhoea is able to claim the lives of 2,000 children, globally, every year while pneumonia kills about two million children, all under the age of five, every year.
“We can simply cut that down by half if we simply wash our hands all the time…There are germs everywhere—in the air, in the sand, in the grass…and unless we sanitise our hands before we use them to eat we will pick up those germs and they will make us sick,” the Minister warned.
He told teachers, parents and children that they should work together so that the habit of hand washing with the use of soap and water is developed.
And, according to the Minister, even as his Ministry is promoting hand washing, it is also promoting better sanitation.
“The Ministries of Health and Education are convinced that the sanitation facilities of our schools must be improved and I am happy to say that the Ministry of Health and Education and our technical partner, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are working together at this time to ensure that the sanitation facilities at every school in Guyana are improved.”
Additionally, the Minister said that the Ministries have also been able to incorporate the support of the private sector.
The Minister also appealed to service-oriented organisations such as the Rotary Club and the Lion’s Club to adopt schools in a bid to improve sanitary facilities, even as he noted that the government is trying its best in this regard.
“Our children are our assets, not the government’s assets. They (children) are integral to the development of our country.
We cannot talk about partnership and participation unless we are all willing to participate to create child-friendly schools.”
He disclosed that a school without an adequate sanitation facility is not a child-friendly school but rather pointed out that a child-friendly school is one where there are teachers and books, good sanitation facilities where children can learn and play safely.
“That is our objective but to achieve that objective we must work together….So I call on the private sector, let us dedicate the next 12 months to improving the sanitation facilities, not in some schools but in all of the schools of our country. Let us give our children an environment that is friendly to their growth and development…A child that is healthy will learn better,” the Minister asserted.
As part of the observance, yesterday, the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation, Geddes Grant and Ansa McAl donated hand sanitizers to the Education Ministry, an endowment which was received by the School Health and HIV/AIDS Unit Coordinator, Ms Sharlene Johnson.
And according to Ms Yohani Singh of the Ministry of Health, who shared video hand washing demonstration with the pupils, hand sanitisers should only be used when no soap and water is available.
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