fbpx

WaterAid East Africa calls on national and regional leaders to prioritise costed hand hygiene strategies and make hand hygiene facilities available to all

WaterAid East Africa calls on national and regional leaders to prioritise costed hand hygiene strategies and make hand hygiene facilities available to all

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Print

KAMPALA, Uganda, 15 October 2022 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- As the world commemorates Global Handwashing Day on 15 October 2022, WaterAid East Africa is calling on leaders across the region to develop and operationalise a costed context-specific national hand hygiene strategy. This is described as critical in scaling up current investments in hand hygiene, improving hygiene behaviours and reaching everyone, everywhere with inclusive, accessible and functional handwashing facilities. The theme for this year’s Global Handwashing Day, Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene, demands joint action from all stakeholders, especially governments at all levels in accelerating universal access to hand hygiene

The Regional Director, WaterAid East Africa, Olutayo Bankole-Bolawole said, “Development of fully-funded national strategy on hand hygiene is a critical first step for countries in scaling up hygiene and achieving a culture shift in handwashing practices at household and community levels. If the hygiene targets captured under the Sustainable Development Goal 6, are to be achieved, there is a need to increase current efforts and investments four-folds, with attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.

“As the world copes with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons on the importance of handwashing in controlling the spread of infectious diseases must be sustained to prevent communities from future disease outbreaks. In East Africa, infectious diseases place a huge burden on fragile health systems, with some countries witnessing a resurgence of Ebola virus and monkeypox over the past month. It is also important to note that without functional handwashing facilities and access to water, public health facilities become hotbeds for infections, with both patients and caregivers risking their lives. Yet, only half of health centres globally, have handwashing facilities with soap and water”.

According to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) 2020, only 30% of East Africa population have access to basic hygiene. Disaggregated by country, this shows Rwanda has 5%, Ethiopia -8%, Uganda -23%, Kenya -27% and Tanzania at 48%. 

Globally, 3 out of 10 people – 2.3 billion– still lack soap and water for handwashing at home. This leaves people at increased risk of disease because they cannot wash their hands. Beyond this, it is estimated that half a million people die each year from diarrhoea or acute respiratory infections that could have been prevented with good hand hygiene. Handwashing with soap alone can reduce diarrhoea by up to 48%, thereby saving the lives of people, particularly children below the age of five.

Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 26.1m people with good hygiene through better facilities and hygiene behaviour change programme. We have also reached 181m people through our hygiene response to COVID-19 through our mass media awareness-raising. In East Africa, WaterAid has been working across the region to improve access to hand hygiene through our cross-border interventions and programmes in four East African countries. We remain committed to increasing the momentum and working with partners to ensure universal access not only for hygiene services but sustainable clean water and decent sanitation facilities.

This Global Handwashing Day, WaterAid East Africa is joining stakeholders worldwide to again demand for commitment to the global goal as we all #UniteforUniversalHandHygiene. Access to water, sanitation and hygiene services is a fundamental human right and we must ensure no one is left behind.

Distributed byAfrican Media Agencyon behalf of Water Aid.

For more information, please contact:

Bukola Bayo-Philip, Ag. Regional Communications Manager, WaterAid East Africa on bukolaphilip@wateraid.org.

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid

WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 27 million people with clean water and 27 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress and @WateraidEA on Twitter, or find WaterAid UK on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

  •     771 million people in the world – one in ten – do not have clean water close to home. 
  •     1.7 billion people in the world – more than one in five – do not have a decent toilet of their own.  
  •     Around 290,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That’s more than 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes. 
  •     Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity. 
  •     Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.  

WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

Prüss-Ustün et al. (2014) and The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2018)

World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage

www.wateraid.org

You might also enjoy

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get updates and learn from the best


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: African Media Agency.

Conférence de Presse en Ligne


Les frontières terrestres ne doivent pas constituer des obstacles à la dissémination de votre message. Grâce à notre service de conférence de presse en ligne, nous vous offrons l’opportunité de vous rapprocher des médias africains, chaque fois que vous en aurez besoin.

Nos services comprennent:

Digital Communications


Today, social networks constitute an organization’s first point of contact with a user and a potential customer. At first glance, you need to convince of the relevance and quality of your content to stimulate and motivate the user to go further. We create consistently inspiring online strategy to meet business objectives, engage stakeholders and enhance our client brand’s reputation internally and externally.

 

Communication​ digitale


Les réseaux sociaux représentent aujourd’hui le premier point de contact d’une organisation avec un utilisateur et un client potentiel. Au premier coup d’œil, vous devez le convaincre de la pertinence et de la qualité de votre contenu pour l’inciter à aller plus loin. Nous créons pour vous une stratégie de communication précise et adaptée sur les réseaux sociaux pour atteindre les objectifs commerciaux, impliquer les parties prenantes et améliorer la réputation de votre marque en interne et en externe.

Promotion​ d’événements


Le succès d’un événement réside en moitié dans sa promotion. Peu importe la beauté de l’événement, la qualité des orateurs et de l’ordre du jour, si personne ne rapporte ou ne parle de votre événement, vos efforts seront vains. Nous vous aidons à façonner votre récit et à créer un engouement autour de votre événement. De l’annonce de l’événement à la tenue de celui-ci, nous accompagnons votre effort de planification et le reflétons sur toutes les plateformes médiatiques.​

Formation​ Médiatique


Nous fournissons à vos porte-paroles les outils nécessaires pour présenter vos principaux messages et répondre avec confiance et cohérence aux questions. Notre formation est organisée soit à distance ou en présentiel, avec des études de cas réels et des répétitions. Nos clients repartent avec le sentiment d’être à l’aise devant les journalistes et d’agir en tant qu’ambassadeurs de la marque.

Veille​ Médiatique


Nous mesurons votre portée en relations publiques et rendons compte des informations de votre industrie et des activités de vos  concurrents en surveillant la majorité des canaux de diffusion dans toute l’Afrique. Une veille médiatique complète et opportune est essentielle pour s’assurer que vous ne manquez aucune référence à votre marque, que vous êtes constamment informé de ce qui se passe dans votre industrie et que vous êtes prêt à saisir les opportunités et à réduire les risques en temps opportun.

Relations​ Média


Peu importe le lieu où ils se trouvent, nous sommes une source d‘informations fiables pour les journalistes qui écrivent sur l’Afrique. Nous nous connaissons mutuellement et ils nous font confiance, car nous leur fournissons un contenu crédible qui les aide dans leurs tâches. Nous nous entretenons quotidiennement avec des journalistes aux quatre coins du continent, ce qui fait de nous l’un des organismes les plus efficaces pour mener des campagnes de relations avec les médias.

Stratégie et développement de contenu


Nous créons des stratégies de communication intelligentes, bien documentées et spécialisées destinées à vous aider à construire un récit fort qui engagera votre audience. Nous travaillons en synergie avec vous afin de rédiger des communiqués de presse et des articles d’opinions qui alimentent le récit de votre entreprise. Notre équipe a une expérience approfondie dans la création de récits et le développement de contenu multimédia.

DIFFUSION DE COMMUNIQUES​ DE PRESSE​


C’est le service phare d’AMA. Nous avons mis en place des canaux de diffusion des communiqués de presse auprès des journalistes des 54 États africains ainsi qu’auprès des journalistes américains et européens couvrant les sujets relatifs aux marchés émergents.​

​Nos services comprennent:​

Event Promotion


Half of the success of an event lays in its promotion. Doesn’t matter how beautiful the event is, how wonderful the speakers and the agenda are, if no one reports or talks about your event, your efforts are gone. We help you shape the narrative and create a drumbeat around your event. From the announce all the way to the outcome of the event, we accompany your planning effort and echo it through all media platforms

Media Training


We provide your spokespeople with the tools to present your key messages and answer questions with confidence and coherence. Our training is organised either remotely or face-to- face, with real case studies and rehearsals. Our clients leave feeling comfortable being in front of reporters and acting as brand ambassadors.

Media Monitoring


We measure and report on
your PR reach, industry news, and competitive activity by monitoring most channels in North, West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Comprehensive and timely media monitoring is critical to ensuring that you don’t miss any reporting of your brand,
you’re constantly informed on what’s going on around your business, and you’re ready to capitalise on opportunities and mitigate
risks in a timely fashion..

Media Relations


We have become an authoritative source of news for reporters writing about Africa, wherever they are. We know them, they know us, and they trust us for providing them with timely and accurate content that helps them do their job. We speak to reporters on a daily basis in all corners of the continent and this makes us one of the most effective agencies in running media relations campaigns.

Strategy & Content Development


We create smart and localised communications strategies to help build a strong narrative that will engage your audiences. We partner with you to create press releases and thought leadership pieces that sustain a drumbeat for your company’s narrative. Our team have deep experience in shaping narratives and developing media content.

PRESS RELEASE WIRE DISTRIBUTION

This is AMA’s flagship service. We have set up channels of distribution towards the journalists of the 54 African states, as well as to American journalists and European journalists covering emerging markets issues.
Our service includes:

Editorial advice

Localised editorial piece when needed

Distribution to the major print, broadcast and online publications along with industry-specific publications

Follow-up calls to secure interview request

Guaranteed distribution to Africa.com

Distribution to Bloomberg, LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters

Social Media Reach: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram

Full online monitoring and print monitoring when available. Includesreadership stats and Advertising Value Equivalent

Translation in French, Arabic and Portuguese available