Pupils in Atiwa taught proper hand washing
Pupils in all basic schools in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region will from this month be expected to practise proper hand washing skills they are being taught.
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An exercise to teach schoolchildren the proper way of washing hands in the district is underway. It is under the auspices of the District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service and supported by the Regional Health Directorate. The exercise is aimed at halting the spread of diseases such as cholera which has claimed the life of one person in the area.
The District Director of the Ghana Health Service, Mr Teye Djamgba, supervised the maiden exercise in commemoration of the global hand-washing week which began last Friday. It involved pupils of the Anyinam Presbyterian Cluster of Schools. Mr Djamgba regretted the loss of lives through diseases such as cholera, which could be prevented.
According to him, even though people, including children, are aware that hands ought to be washed before taking meals and after visiting the toilet, many do not wash their hands properly.
He said it was because of this that the hand-washing exercise was being conducted as it is believed that it would go a long way to help prevent diseases.
Teachers & parents
He said while teachers were to play their role in ensuring that pupils wash their hands, especially after visiting the toilet in school, parents must also insist that their children or wards do the same thing at home.
Regional support
The Eastern Regional Health Promotion Officer, Mr Atuahene Agyeman, whose outfit supported the maiden exercise, pledged continued support for the initiative in order to create awareness not only among schoolchildren but the society at large.
A representative of the Atiwa District Directorate of Education, Mr Afum Kaffana said he was hopeful that the exercise would help make the communities disease-free.
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DCE speaks
In an address read on his behalf, the Atiwa District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Atta Twum, stressed that it was necessary to get adults also involved in the hand-washing exercise.
The Chief of Anyinam, Nana Kwaku Buabeng III, suggested that hand-washing exercises should be conducted on occasions like Independence Day parades of school children.