Global Hand-Washing Day: Teaching hygiene to schoolchildren

Ministry of Climate Change to target first to eight-graders in 50 schools in the capital.

ISLAMABAD:

Schoolchildren from across the twin cities participated in an event aimed at teaching the importance of washing hands with soap, at Islamabad Model High School G-8/4 on Monday. A total of 260 students from 33 schools showcased their creativity at a poster-making competition. The first prize was won by Rubab Batool from Islamabad Model School, G-7/1, while her schoolmate Sadaf Hamid won the second prize.

While speaking on the occasion, Head of Pakistan Institute for Environment Development Action Research, Ayub Qutub said that children are highly vulnerable to diseases caused by lack of sanitation and poor hygiene. He shared that a whopping 5,000 children under the age of five, die every day in the world because of diarrheal diseases, caused in part by unsafe water and lack of access to basic sanitation. “However, by washing hands with soap, families and communities can help cut down on child morbidity caused by diarrheal diseases by almost 50 per cent,” he added.

Ministry of Climate Change Director General (Environment) Jawed Ali Khan at the Ministry of Climate Change said water-borne diseases due to lack of hygiene, had taken the shape of an epidemic among people affected by the current monsoon flood emergency, many of whom are children at heightened risk of contracting diseases.

Ministry of Climate Change Media and Communications Deputy Director Saleem Shaikh told The Express Tribune that the ministry has engaged 50 schools in the capital, targeting grades one to eight with the co-operation of various organisations. Most schools in the cities try to encourage their students to wash their hands with soap as a cheap and effective preventive measure. “We are focusing on children as they are most susceptible to disease and can and incorporate healthy habits in their daily lives. This way we are changing the hygiene mindset across Pakistan,” said Shaikh. Washing hands as a matter of routine is critical if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goal for reducing mortality among children under the age of five by two-thirds by 2015.

According to Unicef, an estimated 10.8 per cent or 116,103 children under years of age, five die of diarrhea every year in the country.

This translates to nearly eight deaths every hour. However, Unicef Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Chief Simone Klawitter said statistics are improving as recent studies show that there has been 50 per cent reduction in pneumonia-related diseases among children under five years of age at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.