Deputy Minister of Health, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo on Tuesday asked Ghanaians to embrace healthy lifestyles and do away with those that impact negatively on their wellbeing. He said simple, inexpensive yet effective lifestyles such as the frequent washing of the hands with soap before meals and the careful disposal of waste will keep disease germs away and leave body and soul healthy. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo was speaking to Myjoyonline.com after signing onto a campaign by Unilever Ghana to combat diarrhoea in Ghana on the back of its Lifebuoy soap, proven as an active bacteria and virus protection formula. The homecare brands leader, as part of activities to mark Global Hand Washing Day on October 15, is collecting one million signatures of Ghanaians who commit to support the “Pledge to Defeat Diarrhoea” campaign. For the one million pledges, Unilever will donate €10,000 to build Hygiene stations around the country. The Deputy Health Minister said he found it unbelievable that many Ghanaians prefer to wash their hands with soap after a meal, instead of doing so before the meals. Others, he said, will attend funerals where they shake hands with virtually everybody, or visit sick relations at the hospital or yet still engage in some other activities that bring them into contact with several people but fail to wash their hands properly thereafter. “That is a sure way of inviting germs into the body, and if you recall our recent cases of cholera, it presupposes that we are not observing enough hygiene. We all know also that with cholera comes diarrhoea and is a quick killer. Particularly in children, it dehydrates very fast and in instances where it is accompanied by vomiting, it leaves victims so weak that intravenous infusion and oral rehydration applications may not work if those interventions don’t come immediate enough,” he said.