Covid19 pandemic grow WASH innovations, Ugandans washing hands surge

The WASH sector players have some good news about the Covid19 pandemic in Uganda. As they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining.

So is the Covid19 pandemic which has not been only gloom, especially for the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector.

In the past year, there is been significant growth in WASH innovations as well as the number of Ugandans washing hands.

There has been a rise in innovative solutions for improving hygiene in communities, according to revelations made on Friday, during the commemoration for Global Hand Washing Day 2021 at the Ministry of Water and Environment head office in Luzira.

The event attended by various players in the WASH sector, including Water Aid, JICA, Plan Uganda, Unilever among others, recognized the increase in solutions in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene sector.

The deputy premier of Buganda, Hajj Twaha Kawaase, challenged the government to move from boardrooms to the grassroots to preach the gospel of sanitation and hygiene. He said Buganda Kingdom has created a structure from top to the villages which can be used to sensitive Ugandans on good WASH practices.

He however castigated cultural practices that keep people in backwardness.

“Culture isn’t static,” he emphasized, adding that government should ensure access to safe and clean water across the country.

“Washing hands should be an obligation for everyone. Our lives are in our hands,” he added.

Among companies that exhibited their products including Sunda, a rural water sources management system, NSI.Water specializing in water and energy products, as well as Sato who deals in toilets.

Ms Elizebeth Mbatudde a commissioner in the Ministry of Education and Sports said there was a need for Ugandans to change their perception towards washing their hands.

Citing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ms Mbatudde said Ugandans should be mobilized to help achieve the sixth goal which aims at ensuring clean water and sanitation in all communities.

She said if there is increased awareness to wash hands with soap, there will be fewer diseases and many lives will be saved.

This year’s Global Hand Washing Day was marked under the theme “Our Future is at hand, let’s move forward together”.

Meanwhile, Ms Joy Rita Mukasa Menya, the managing director, said the role of the private sector is to provide solutions that are relevant to communities and society. She explained that her company has invested hugely in research and innovative ideas, particularly to create hygiene products that lessen the disease burden.

She said they have started program to recruit children at an early stage to appreciate hand washing and other public health practices using cartoon illustrations such as Ninja. So far, Mrs Menya said, they are in 150 schools and growing.

Unicef’s WASH manager Shiva Singh observed that Handwashing can reduce diarrheal diseases by 30% to 48% as well as respiratory infections by 20%.

The other transmission handwashing could help reduce include; cholera, ebola, shigellosis, SARS and Hepatitis E.

Shiva also said Uganda’s handwashing practices improved in the past year, citing a graph that shows handwashing improving from 41% in 2007 to 58% in 2020.

He said the success of handwashing in Uganda has been enabled by institution support such as from the National Hand Washing Secretariat, a large number of NGOs network in the sector, private sector involvement, and including handwashing as an integral part of community sanitation initiatives.

He, however, said there was a need to focus on untapped energy in key ministries namely, Water, Health, and Education ministries. He also mentioned messaging versus behavior change, ensuring the availability of products at the last mile, and improving access to water.

The Unicef WASH expert said meaningful behavior change was not cheap and called on the sector to invest in desirable hygiene infrastructure and products, as well as come up with community-level actions supported by policy and financing.