Antibacterial brand, Dettol, celebrated the 2018 Global Handwashing Day in Abuja by calling on all Nigerians to imbibe handwashing as a day-to-day activity for the reduction of preventable diseases. Proper handwashing practices, according to recent findings by the World Health Organisation, can reduce communicable diseases by more than 59%.
Dettol has been known for promoting good hygiene practices amongst millions of Nigerians, especially children in the last eight years, through the regular school outreaches and its School Hygiene Programme. It has also executed various activities promoting healthy lifestyle such as donation of hand wash sites to schools, organising workshops for nursing mothers and partnering with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), amongst other professional bodies.
Speaking at Dettol’s 2018 Global Handwashing Day event in Abuja, General Manager, RB West Africa, Dayanand Sriram, stated that “Dettol has been the trusted champion for good health and hygiene for over 50 years in Nigeria, and we believe that it is important to inculcate good habits such as proper handwashing at an early age. A simple act of washing hands with soap can prevent illnesses and arrest diarrhoea-related deaths. This is why we are continuing with the tradition of driving habit change, and provision of needed infrastructure.
“Over the past years, Dettol has provided handwashing sites and educated over 7 million children, parents and teachers about the importance of handwashing through the School Hygiene Program, which is a mass education program about proper handwashing and hygiene habits.”
At the event marking this year’s Global Handwashing Day, over 2,000 school children drawn from seven public and private schools which have benefited from Dettol’s School Hygiene Programme across 4 Local Governments in the FCT, participated in a symbolic hand-wash relay.
The event held at LEA Model Primary School, Maitama, Abuja, where Dettol also donated 12 hand washing stations to help facilitate and maintain the habit of proper handwashing by the school children.
