World Hand Hygiene Day: Ekiti govt to build facilities for effective hygiene practices

The Ekiti State government has revealed that it would continue to build facilities and improve the capacity of health care workers towards enhancing the sustainability of hygiene practices in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Oyebanji Filani who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital at an event to mark the 2021 World Hand Hygiene Day noted that residents must take responsibility for their health by practising regular hand washing.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Akinjide Akinleye, the commissioner noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had insisted that hand hygiene is a critical measure in preventing diseases and infection.

He explained that respiratory diseases and diarrhoea has accounted for 20 percent of deaths in children, adding that regular hand washing has proved to reduce deaths associated with the diseases by 50 percent.

According to him, “the government’s role is to continue to build the capacity of health care workers and provide the necessary infrastructure that will ensure the sustainability of hand hygiene practices in all health facilities while the society and every individual should ensure they perform hand hygiene as a matter of personal responsibility.

“The role of hand hygiene cannot be over-emphasized in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and as part of personal hygiene among the populace in the prevention of infectious diseases.

“Hand Hygiene has a critical role among other infection prevention and control activities in reducing the overall burden of infectious diseases and all stakeholders need to be involved to promote and ensure that is sustained now and beyond.”

He advised health care workers in the state to be mindful and practise regular hand washing before and after attending to patients in preventing further spread of diseases.

Representative of WHO, Dr Mary Ilesanmi said there was a need for all stakeholders in the health care sector to take the message to the people on the need to embrace hygiene practices.

Ilesanmi revealed that regular hand washing is the most potent and effective method to prevent diseases in the society.

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