COVID-19: Lagos, Dettol Educate 50,000 Children on Handwashing

Martins Ifijeh

The Lagos State Government has partnered with Dettol’s Clean Naija Initiative to educate children on the importance of handwashing and protect themselves against the dreaded COVID-19 and Lassa fever currently affecting Nigerians.

Speaking at the partnership meeting in Lagos recently, the General Manager, RB West Africa, Mr. Dayanand Sriram, stated with basic hygiene, including handwashing, the possibility of being infected with COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks were low.

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 ones 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.

“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 it’s School Hygiene Program.”

On her part, the Special Adviser, Sustainable Development Goals, Lagos State Government, Mrs. Solape Hammond said this year, the state was focusing on SDG6 and SDG3 which, she said relates to the health and environment pillars.

“It is very important that sanitation and wellbeing are taken very seriously. Now with what is going on with COVID-19, 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.”