Vivo Energy Ghana, Shell licensee, in partnership with the United Way Ghana, anon-governmental organisation (NGO), has presented some sanitary items to the La Enobal Basic School in Accra.
The items included soaps, hand sanitisers, and tissues to promote good hand hygiene practices. The school girls were also provided with sanitary products to promote menstrual hygiene.
The gesture, which was part of a sensitisation programme on hygiene, was to mark this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day, themed “Accelerate action together. Save Lives –Clean Your Hands”.
This was contained in a release issued by Vivo Ghana and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra last Friday.
World Hand Hygiene Day is commemorated annually on May 5 to raise awareness on the importance of good hand hygiene in health care and to unite people around the world in support of overall hygiene improvement.
Corporate Communications Manager, Vivo Energy Ghana, Shirley Tony Kum, said the company was committed to promoting and practising good hand hygiene.
As such, she indicated that the company continued to implement strict hand hygiene protocols to ensure the safety and wellbeing of employees and customers.
“It is for this reason that we are pleased with this collaboration to create awareness and educate the pupils and by extension the community on the importance of hand hygiene,” she added.
Ms Kum urged the public to commit to “accelerating action to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance in our educational institutions”.
Mr Felix Kissiedu, Executive Director, United Way Ghana, said his organisation was committed to eradicating all impediments that hindered access to quality education, such as diseases, which could be prevented through simple means like practising proper hand hygiene.
He emphasised the importance of making hand hygiene a daily habit to improve the health and wellbeing of the pupils, adding, “World hand hygiene day is an annual event, but we are to note that hand hygiene has to be an everyday activity”,
The Head teacher, La Enobal Basic School, Mr Michael Odonkor, expressed gratitude to Vivo Energy Ghana and the United Way Ghana for their support and promised to uphold good hygienic standards in the school.
The School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service for the La Dade-Kotopon Municipality, Constance Sekyere, acknowledged the efforts of the organisations and made a clarion call on everyone to make hand washing a culture as it was during the COVID-19 era.
The event featured poetry recitals and choreography on hand hygiene by the pupils.
Vivo Energy Ghana’s green champions and volunteers also educated the pupils on the five hand washing steps, including wetting the hands under running water, applying soap, rubbing the hands together for at least 20 seconds, rinsing with water, and drying with a clean towel or tissue.
BY TIMES REPORTER