The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), and partners including Zoomlion Foundation have conducted public education for Agbobloshie Market Women to promote the act of proper handwashing. The women were taken through sanitation and effective handwashing.

This was part of activities to commemorate the 10th Global Handwashing Day on Monday, 15th October 2018.

The theme for this year's celebration is "Clean Hands: A recipe for health".

Global Handwashing Day is celebrated to promote the habit of handwashing with soap and water to decrease episodes of diarrhea and related diseases.

The Zoomlion Foundation pulled together 200 volunteers from Senior High Schools (SHS) in Accra for the public education at Agbogbloshie.

The volunteers are members of the Zoom Ambassadors club at PRESEC Legon, Nungua SHS, Frafraha Community Day SHS and Ghanata SHS.

The volunteers joined Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, the Mayor of Accra, Mr. Mohammed Adjei Sowah and officials of CWSA, to conduct the exercise.

They combed the market and spoke on sanitation to every market woman. The team later converged at a durbar organized by the CWSA to demonstrate the act of proper handwashing to the market women.

The CWSA officials took the women through a number of sanitation and effective handwashing practices.

Engineer Worlanyo K. Siabi, Chief executive of CWSA stated that the venue is well chosen to promote hygiene in Agbogbloshie Market.

Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, stressed the point that those who handle food have a critical role to play to prevent contamination. “Handwashing is simple and effective to prevent diseases”, she added. On his part, the mayor of Accra, informed the gathering that Government is taken steps to end open defecation by providing subsidized toilet facilities to all households in Accra.

Intended results

The occasion was used to sensitise the market women to live healthy lifestyles to avoid sicknesses and frequent visits to the hospitals, and improve on their income. Proper handwashing is also important in preventing the spread of communicable diseases.

"Through public education, we aim to help market women in and around Agbogbloshie to improve their handwashing habits", stated one of the Zoom Ambassadors. "The promotion of correct handwashing procedures, and education about why this is necessary, families and members of the community will become more aware of the necessity and importance about handwashing. Episodes of diarrhea will be significantly decreased through this habit", added another Zoom Ambassador.