The Oyo State Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (Oyo RUWASSA) has launched the “Clean Family Campaign”, to motivate communities and healthcare facilities towards practising specific hygiene behaviours for better health outcomes.
The Agency launched the campaign at an event held at the RUWASSA Office, Agodi Secretariat, Ibadan, the State capital.
Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Oyo RUWASSA, Mr Omirinde Najeem, lamented that lack of access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure makes the practice of good hygiene difficult, with attendant negative consequences on health, livelihoods, gender equality and socio-economic outcomes.
To mark the commencement of the Clean Family Campaign, the State government took delivery of 15 permanent inclusive handwashing facilities with dual access to cater to people living with disabilities, 20 permanent handwashing facilities and 100 semi handwashing facilities, as part of the 1000 non-contact and inclusive handwashing facilities promised under the Scale-up Hygiene Project of the WaterAid Nigeria and its local partners.
Najeem disclosed that the Clean Family Project, launched in collaboration with WaterAid Nigeria, is in line with the national sanitation campaign: ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the toilet’, which was launched by the Federal Government last year to deliver an open defecation free Nigeria by 2025.
He said, “This will be achieved by changing the physical and social environment, changing the narrative in people’s minds, as well as motivating people to think and act differently through the use of emotional triggers.”
Najeem noted that the Agency would empower and encourage people to practice good hygiene using context-specific hygiene messaging through promotional touchpoints, while providing hygiene facilities and kits to support the practice of recommended hygiene behaviours.
“We will also hand over 35 permanent handwashing facilities and 100 semi-permanent handwashing facilities and hygiene packs to some under-served communities in the State. We encourage every resident of Oyo State to maximise the campaign and adopt the recommended hygiene behaviours,” he stated.
Najeem appreciated the Heineken Africa Foundation (HAF), for the enormous support given to the project; WaterAid Nigeria, the technical partner, and the Living Word Mission (LIWOM), the project’s implementing partner, for the hard work from design to implementation.
Good hygiene practice
In his remarks, the Team Lead at LIWOM, Marcus Williams, said access to basic water supply services is an enabler for good hygiene practices because the fact that many people within the State are unable to practice frequent handwashing with soap and clean water is increasing the risk of the spread of diseases, adding that stakeholders must recognise and commit to prioritising access to clean water and decent toilets as basic human rights.
According to RUWASA, new national statistics have revealed that about 93 percent of residents of Oyo State do not have handwashing facilities, with soap and water, close to their homes; another 83 per cent of the residents have no access to basic sanitation services, while 15 per cent do not have access to clean water.
Emmanuel Ukoh
