AVOID CONTRACTING COMMUNICABLE DISEASES — ANKAMA-ASAMOAH (PAGE 54, JUNE 16, 2010)

THE Managing Director of Cleaning Solutions Limited, Mr Kofi Ankama-Asamoah, has underscored the need for public institutions to take steps to ward off the devastating effects of emerging communicable diseases such as the HINI influenza at their work places.
He, therefore, stressed that hand washing culture must be taken seriously in all schools to prevent infection.
Hand washing, he said, must always be done with soap in order to kill micro-organisms which were the agents of diseases.
“We recommend hand washing and not hand wetting. When you wash your hand with only water, you are hand wetting. Hand washing entails the use of soap to clean the hand and kill micro organisms,” he stated.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf at the second leg of a three phase regional workshop on hygiene training for senior high schools at Ho in the Volta Region.
The workshop was designed in collaboration with the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the GES for 400 participants comprising bursars, chairmen of procurement departments, matrons, housemasters and housemistresses.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah said the use of the hand in recent times had become circumspect although it was the source of riches, a better relationship and affability.
The hand, he said, was now attributed as the source of illnesses and death, especially when considered after using it for sneezing, holding of door locks where the largest deposit of micro-organisms accumulated.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah claimed that medical experts had underscored that washing of hands regularly, especially after visiting the lavatory reduced visits to out patients department (OPD) by 10 per cent.
He stressed that more gains would be made if the culture was sustained.
The Volta Regional Officer in charge of SHEP, Madam Sitsofe Amegboe, said the workshop fitted into the medium-term policy of the GES to ensure that schoolchildren were educated to become agents of change in the promotion of proper hygiene and sanitation communities.
She commended Cleaning Solutions Limited for the initiative, which she described as laudable, especially when launched in an era of the HINI epidemic.
Madam Amegboe, however, expressed regret that one could not overlook the fact that the main aim confronting schools today was the unhygienic practices, which had visited negative consequences on the health of citizens such as diarrhoea, worm infestation, tuberculosis and cholera.
The Tema/Volta/Eastern Zone Manager of Cleaning Solutions, Mr Fred Nyame, said some of the principles that were brought on the agenda included the use of paper tissues in hotels and restaurants to replace the multiple use of towels at bars by clients.
He called for the use of soap dispensers, adding “good hygiene costs money but poor hygiene costs more”.