Coronavirus: Brand partners Lagos State on handwashing campaign

By Daniel Anazia | 28 March 2020 | 3:23 am

Dettol Clean Naija and Lagos state with<br />students of the Anglican Primary School and Community Primary School, Alimosho LGA, were trained to become handwashing champions. Photo: TWITTER/DETTOLNIGERIA

As part of its support to curtail the spread of killer coronavirus, leading hygiene brand, Dettol, has partnered with the Lagos State Government through the Office of Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, to educate primary school children within the State on how to stay protected from infectious diseases, such as the Coronavirus and Lassa Fever.

The campaign, which is being carried out under its auspices of Clean Naija Initiative, is designed to create awareness, educate and drive behavioural change to achieve a cleaner and healthier Nigeria.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “Good hygiene is an important barrier to many infectious diseases, and it promotes better health and well-being”. This has necessitated Dettol’s commitment to spreading the message of good hygiene practices among Nigerians and has given birth to various initiatives, programmes and social investment activities across the country.

Speaking when the hygiene education team visited the St Mary’s Convent School Lagos Island, Lagos, General Manager, RB West Africa, Mr. Dayanand Sriram, stated that over 500 school pupils were enlightened on how to prevent the transmission of respiratory illnesses, and proper hand hygiene.

He said, “Our health is in our hands; hand washing a few times during the day prevents a lot of illnesses. In light of the panic around Coronavirus, what we can do individually is to carry out preventive actions and constant hand hygiene is one of the most important in the fight against communicable diseases. RB is proud to partner with the Lagos State Government, and our goal is to reach 50,000 children in 20 local government areas of the state.”

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Sustainable Development Goals, Mrs. Solape Hammond said that the state government had this year, decided to focus on SDG6 and SDG3, which relate to the health and environment pillars, and stressed the need to ensure that sanitation and wellbeing of the people are taken very seriously.

She said, “Now with what is going on with Coronavirus, we know that it is a disease that is easily communicable, but the chances of its spread are greatly reduced when people wash their hands, so we are encouraging every Lagosian out there to adopt these hygiene practices.”

“Through the School Hygiene Programme, Dettol uses teaching aids and fun activities to educate school children on good hygiene practices and various ways that they can protect themselves against germs. Over the past seven years, Dettol has educated over five million children and teachers through its School Hygiene Program,” she added.

Hammond further stated that as part of its commitment to encourage healthy hygiene practices among Nigerians in 2020, Dettol is partnering with more public sector organizations to deliver hygiene education as a strategy to drive hygiene behaviour change in the country.

Coronavirus: Brand partners Lagos State on handwashing campaign

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