The future is in our hands

At a time when the novel Coronavirus is bringing grief, sorrow and suffering to scores of people across the country, the notion of “keeping your hands clean” has never held a greater significance.

Global Handwashing Day is being observed the world over on Friday (today), but the province of Sindh has no awareness programmes or mobilisation efforts for this most essential of daily habits.

The only time the provincial administration paid any heed to the issue was after the outbreak of Covid-19. Unlike other parts of the world, the day passes silently in the province.

According to experts, handwashing is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections.

“Millions of people are unable to wash their hands globally. This global advocacy day is dedicated to imparting awareness. There is a dire need to arrange regular behavioural change programmes focusing on the determinants of handwashing,” says Niaz Ahmed who heads policy and advocacy at WaterAid Pakistan, an international organisation that works for water, sanitation and hygiene issues in the country.

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Hand hygiene is overlooked in many national policies. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 brought unprecedented attention to the importance of hand hygiene.

At the same time, experts are of the view that the systems must become more resilient to sustain a culture of hand hygiene and prevent future outbreaks. “The government, donors and institutions, must develop a roadmap.

They invest in programmes, draft policy and start awareness by giving priority to hand hygiene infrastructure and policies at schools, healthcare facilities, workplaces, and public spaces,” Ahmed added.

The theme of this year’s event is Our Future Is At Hand, Let’s Move Forward Together. Alongside, sustainable development goals (SGDs) are set up by the United Nations General Assembly to achieve targets in various sectors by 2030.

Goal No.6 includes clean water and sanitation for all, while world leaders have vowed to achieve the objective of universal hand hygiene by 2030.

However, the Sindh government has failed to pay any meaningful attention to the matter. “There is no proper strategy to achieve Goal No6 that covers potable water, sanitation and hygiene issues,” stresses environmentalist Nasir Panhwar.

“I doubt whether we can achieve sustainable development goals in Pakistan, even in the coming nine years, given the lukewarm response of the federal and provincial governments to achieve the targets,” he added.

According to Panhwar, the resources are limited and challenges are huge. “Over the period of time, our system has deteriorated owing to the weakness of the urban and rural sectors. The population is growing at a fast pace and we have limited financial allocations to deal with SGDs,” he concluded.

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Sara Akmal, a water and climate expert, says that the Covid-19 pandemic highlights the importance of handwashing to reduce the spread of disease and protect people’s health. “As we move beyond the pandemic and come to a new normal, it is crucial that we maintain momentum.

Sharing some findings of her research, she says that handwashing can reduce diarrheal diseases by 30%, acute respiratory infections by up to 20% and plays an important role in reducing the transmission of outbreak-related pathogens such as cholera, Ebola, shigellosis, SARS and hepatitis E.