The Secretary General in the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Fritz Gerard Nasako launched the 4^th edition of the Global Hands washing with Soap and Water Day on October 15, 2011 in the Muea Government Practising School, Buea in the South West Region. While launching the event, the Secretary General called on all to ensure that the washing of hands with soap and water becomes a habit.

When the habit is cultivated, it becomes second nature for everyone to systematically wash hands with soap and water after sports, using the toilet and before breast feeding, etc, he said. Although, he said, the idea is better spread in school milieu, it is advisable everyone cultivates the habit of hand washing with soap and water in order to do away with germs and reduce child mortality. Fritz Nasako said hand washing with soap and water is a basic hygiene issue which should be adhered to for the common good of all since it contributes to curbing the spread of cholera. Fritz Nasako recalled that this year’s Hands washing Day with Soap and Water coincided with the Rural Women’s Day.

Earlier, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF Resource Mobilization Specialist, Vikas Verma reminded the gathering not to forget to wash their hands with soap and water after the event! “Behaviour change cannot happen in a day. It needs concerted efforts to be established,” he pointed out. Consequently, he said there was need for an awareness campaign to be launched to make hands washing with soap and water a national habit.
He said hands washing with soap and water prevents needless deaths of children, reduces diarrhoea-related deaths by more than 40 per cent and acute cases of respiratory disease by 25 per cent. A World Health Organisation, WHO report for 2008 says that worldwide infections and parasitic diseases account for 9.5 million deaths yearly, Vikas Verma said, adding that as of September 2011, there were 16,706 reported cases of cholera in Cameroon with 639 deaths.

During the ceremony, pupils from schools in Muea area presented sketches on how to wash hands with soap and water. Some of them were awarded prizes which included cartons of laundry soap and hand-washing buckets offered by UNICEF Cameroon. The Governor of South West Region, Koumpa Issa took advantage of the occasion to advise his Muslim folk to watch well how hands are washed for they may mistakenly think that since they wash their hands five times a day, they had nothing to learn from the event.