{"id":24255,"date":"2020-04-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/?p=24255"},"modified":"2020-04-02T11:02:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T11:02:49","slug":"wash-your-hands-is-tough-message-across-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/wash-your-hands-is-tough-message-across-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Wash Your Hands’ Is Tough Message Across Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JOHANNESBURG – Leaders\nand medical experts around the world have said that no matter who you are, or\nwhere you live, if you want to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus,\nwash your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As South African\nPresident Cyril Ramaphosa noted this week, the virus doesn’t discriminate.\n“[I]t is very real, and it poses a great danger to every one of us and to\nour society,” he said. “It infects the rich and the poor, the young\nand the old, black and white, those who live in the cities and those in the\nvillages.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest\nchallenges on the African continent is the simplest: universal access to clean\nwater. Even in relatively well-developed South Africa, millions of residents\nlack clean running water at home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwould take years to shore that up, so in the meantime, charitable organizations\nlike Living Water International have gone into overdrive, setting up water\ndistribution points and handwashing stations in countries including Ghana,\nLiberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burkina\nFaso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\norganization’s water and sanitation officer, Maitabel Achieng Okumu, says\npeople have enthusiastically embraced the program. She spoke to VOA from\nNairobi, via the Zoom conferencing app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today\neveryone knows the beauty of washing hands,” she said. “People have\ngone to an extent \u2014 even the boda-boda riders \u2014 the guys who are riding\nmotorcycles \u2014 have their handwashing facilities. So the message is being passed\nthrough media, through community health volunteers. \u2026 People are really\nresponding positively.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis especially important in high-density areas like camps for displaced people\nand refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those places,\ngroups like Catholic Relief Services are also upping their hygiene efforts,\nsays the agency’s Uganda country director, Niek de Goeij.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are able to\nreach well over 1 million Ugandans with new messages around handwashing and hygiene\npromotion in general,” he said. “And so very specifically that can\nmean, for example, in the refugee settlements in the very northwest of the\ncountry, for example, like Bidibidi settlement, we have volunteers that are\nstanding at the handwashing points where the refugees collect their drinking\nwater, and while they are fetching their drinking water, we basically take the\ntime with the refugees to talk to them about the coronavirus and how to better\nprotect themselves and their families to make sure that they keep their water\nclean and stored well, and that they wash their hands frequently.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts say it takes\n20 seconds to properly clean your hands. It’s not a long time, but it could\nmake a big difference\n\n\n\n\n\nSource:\nVoice of America\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG – Leaders and medical experts around the world have said that no matter who you are, or where you live, if you want to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, wash your hands. As South African President Cyril Ramaphosa noted this week, the virus doesn’t discriminate. “[I]t is very real, and it … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Wash Your Hands' Is Tough Message Across Africa - South Africa Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/wash-your-hands-is-tough-message-across-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Wash Your Hands' Is Tough Message Across Africa - South Africa Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JOHANNESBURG – Leaders and medical experts around the world have said that no matter who you are, or where you live, if you want to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, wash your hands. 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