Zimbabwe yesterday joined the rest of the world in commemorating the Global Handwashing Day, with this year's theme focusing on eradicating cholera.
The commemorations under the theme: "Kick Out Cholera" were held at Glen View 3 Primary School and were attended by senior Government officials, Unilever health experts and pupils from different schools.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education principal director Mr Peter Muzavazi, Minister Paul Mavima said the Global Hand Washing Day was critical component in ensuring pupils and children grew up in safe environment and enjoy full protection from good hygienic practices.
He said handwashing was important in saving lives, making food safe to eat, preventing diarrhoeal diseases and helping children grow strong.
"As we mark this Global Handwashing Day, we must reflect on the bigger picture of making Zimbabwe an upper middle-income country by the year 2030. This calls for friendly schools where there is maximum collaboration by the providers of education, health and water. This commemoration comes at a time when the nation recently had cholera outbreak. The Glen View community was among the affected areas hence the theme; 'kick out cholera' is meant to remind us that indeed cholera can be kicked out forever," he said.
Minister Mavima said it was sad that every year many lives, particularly children, were lost globally to diseases that could be prevented through simple measures such as safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene in the form of handwashing with soap.
According to global statistics, 801 000 children younger than five perish from diarrhoea each year.
"The World Health Organisation cites diarrhoeal diseases as the second leading cause of death in children under five years old responsible for killing around 525 000 children a year. Failure by the nation to meet the health needs of the children causes sleepless nights. The first killer disease of children under five is Pneumonia," he said.
The minister applauded Unilever for its efforts in educating pupils on health and hygiene.
"I am told they are going to come up with a school programme to teach pupils proper sanitation and hygiene. The best programmes are those that take on boards the structures of the school to ensure that they become sustainable. It will be important for collaboration with the Ministry of and that of Health and Child Care so that's school Health coordinators receive sufficient support to carry out their health responsibilities effectively.
"If leaners are provided with the right information and skills they will become formidable change agents in their communities. Government has the health of people at heart thus it will take measures to make sure we do not leave our lives to chance," he said.
Unilever managing director, Mr Hilary Muzondiwa said the global hand washing day was designed to foster and support a global and local culture of handwashing with soap, shine a spotlight on the state of handwashing around the world raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap.
"Global hand washing is and advocacy is aimed at raising the awareness on the importance of handwashing as a preventive measure against diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea among others. Handwashing is an effective, easy and affordable way to ensure one does not fall sick," he said.
He said Unilever was targeting 15 000 children through educating them on health and hygiene and aims to reach to one billion children by 2020.
Global Handwashing Day was founded 11 years ago by Unilever, United Nations Children's Fund and other non governmental institutions to raise awareness of hand washing with soap as a simple but lifesaving habit.
