The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has urged traders at Kumasi Kejetia Market to take hand washing seriously in order to protect themselves and others from diseases.

According to the Minister, scientific studies have shown that frequent hand washing can save approximately one million lives per year.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Global Handwashing Day held at the Kejetia New Market, Abena Dapaah urged traders to wash their hands frequently, especially after serving clients given the variety of items they get hold of while trading.

“The whole world, we’re encouraging people to wash their hands after handling their gadgets,” she said.

The Minister advised that before they eat, after they go to the washroom, or serve a customer, they must wash their hands.

“What we are encouraging our market women and men to do is to make sure they operate in a very hygienic environment starting from their bodies, their personality.”

To provide good hygienic services to customers, she noted that traders must practice personal hygiene.

She also advised consumers to always wash fruits and other raw foods before eating them to avoid unnecessary diseases and deaths.

“There are people who, when they buy an apple, just use their hands to clean it without even using a sanitizer and we eat it,” she explained.

“I will advise that try and wash it at least with water before you eat these raw foods. So it’s to encourage us because scientific analysis have been done that if we all wash our hands properly every day, we can save 1 million lives a year.”

Mrs. Dapaah is confident that such a step will aid in the reduction of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, Covid-19, typhoid, among others in the country.

The Minister also donated about 10 Veronica buckets and their accessories to improve effective hand washing.

Mr. Eric Nana Prempeh, Chairman of the Kejetia Traders Association, who accepted the items on behalf of the traders, thanked the Minister for her commitment to improving sanitation in markets.

He stated that while the 10 Veronica buckets are appreciated, they will require more from the Ministry due to their large numbers.