As part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LSWRC) has embarked on advocacy to financial institutions, motor parks and others across the metropolis to sensitise residents on the importance of handwashing with soap under running water.
Tagged “StopTheSpread”, the exercise conducted on Tuesday was geared towards arousing the consciousness of residents on the need to personally take responsibility to support government’s efforts.
Speaking during the exercise, Executive Secretary of LSWRC, Funke Adepoju, said the need for the advocacy became important in furtherance of WASH, an acronym for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, a key health issue with international development and the focus of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 6.
“As we know, Covid-19 is a WASH disease and part of the ways to effectively ward off the threat of the pandemic is to ensure we imbibe regular intake of clean water, good personal hygiene practices and top-notch sanitation of our environment,” Adepoju said.
“Our hand washing advocacy is essentially to stop the spread of the virus. The fact is aside using sanitizers, washing your hands with soap under running water is one of the effective ways to fight the virus.
“Soap loosens the grip of the virus on the skin and destroys the outer layer of the virus, pulling it apart and so hand washing with soap means you can remove the virus and wash it away before it has the chance to infect you.”
She added that since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, the state government under the leadership of the Incident Commander, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had been doing a lot to fight the scourge, and that it was important that the people support its initiatives, especially in terms of adhering to the protocols established to stop the spread.
“It has been well publicised that regular washing of hands with water and soap and maintaining high level of hygiene are critical to ward off the threat of the virus.
“As the agency of government that holds the mandate to regulate the production, distribution, abstraction, consumption, supply and use of water as well as quality of service, our advocacy is to emphasise the significant role of hand washing with soap under running water at this crucial point in time,” Adepoju said.
According to her, the obvious high impact between public health and clean water had further reinforced the need for all stakeholders to key into the vision of the present administration in the state to safeguard the health of residents in line with the second pillar of the THEMES agenda.
