Only 37% Of Nigerian Households Have Handwashing Facilities — WBFA

Only 37 per cent of Nigeria’s family inhabitants has entry to primary handwashing amenities with cleaning soap and water, elevating considerations over the unfold of preventable infections, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) has stated.

Speaking in Lagos, the muse’s Director of Programming and Reporting, Dr Osinachi Onyeoziri, disclosed this throughout the commemoration of the 2026 Global Handwashing Day on October 15, saying improved hand hygiene remained one of many easiest and most cost-effective methods of stopping infections and defending public well being.

While citing the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, Onyeoziri stated the figures highlighted the necessity for sustained hygiene training and improved entry to water, sanitation and hygiene amenities, significantly in colleges and communities.

He stated, “Washing our hands with soap and clean water is not just a personal habit but one of the most practical and cost-effective public health practices that help prevent the spread of infections, protect our families and communities, and contribute to healthier schools.”

The occasion, held below the theme: “Be a Handwashing Hero,” introduced collectively college students, lecturers, authorities representatives and growth companions to advertise correct handwashing practices and encourage youngsters to change into hygiene ambassadors of their colleges and houses.

According to Onyeoziri, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 1.4 million deaths might have been prevented by means of enough water, sanitation and hygiene providers in 2019, whereas unsafe hand hygiene was linked to 356,000 deaths from acute respiratory infections throughout the identical interval.

He added that handwashing might cut back diarrhoea-related diseases and respiratory infections, whereas serving to to scale back college absenteeism related to preventable illnesses.

The WBFA director stated the muse, in partnership with Reckitt, had been implementing the Dettol Hygiene Quest programme to advertise hygiene training amongst schoolchildren, pregnant girls, new moms and neighborhood members.

He additional disclosed that the programme reached 443,595 individuals throughout Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and different collaborating places throughout its first two implementation phases between 2022 and 2025.

According to him, the beneficiaries included 282,108 college students, 137 pregnant girls and new moms, and 48,110 neighborhood members.

He added that the programme established 1,134 scholar hygiene ambassadors throughout 567 colleges, enabling pupils to encourage their friends to undertake correct hygiene practices.

Onyeoziri added that about 5,000 healthcare staff had additionally been educated in an infection prevention and management by means of the muse’s SafeClean programme.

He stated assessments carried out below the intervention indicated reductions in communicable disease-related diseases of 34 per cent in Abuja, 32 per cent within the Federal Capital Territory and 16 per cent in Lagos, though the particular places and methodology of the evaluation weren’t detailed in her remarks.

The basis, she added, was concentrating on 750,000 college students in 750 colleges, alongside 90,000 pregnant girls and new moms throughout 78 healthcare amenities in Lagos, Kano and different collaborating states by the top of 2026.

Also talking, Reckitt’s consultant, Ayomide Bello, stated sustained funding in hygiene training was essential to translate public well being messages into lasting behavioural modifications.

Bello stated the Dettol Hygiene Quest programme had recorded enhancements in hygiene information amongst collaborating college students, with positive aspects of as much as 32 per cent reported within the earlier 12 months.

She added that the initiative had reached about 1.2 million schoolchildren and pregnant girls over the previous three years, as the corporate labored in the direction of its goal of impacting six million individuals by 2030.

“No child should miss school due to an illness that proper handwashing can prevent,” Bello stated, urging college students to share the hygiene classes with their households and communities.

During a sensible demonstration on the occasion, WBFA’s Aligbe Florence taught college students to scrub their palms with cleaning soap and clear water for at the very least 20 seconds, taking note of areas which are typically missed, together with between the fingers and across the nails.

The facilitators additionally urged pupils to scrub their palms earlier than consuming or dealing with meals, after utilizing the bathroom and each time their palms grew to become visibly soiled.

They defined that palms might switch disease-causing microorganisms from contaminated surfaces to the eyes, nostril, mouth and meals, stressing that water alone was not as efficient as washing with cleaning soap and water.

Consequently, the muse known as on authorities authorities, college directors, lecturers and oldsters to help entry to practical handwashing amenities and make hygiene training a routine a part of youngsters’s studying and each day lives.