UNICEF Wants Scaling Up Of “Tippy Tap” Campaign

Madam Leticia Ackun, Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) Specialist, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to government to up the success chalked by the implementation of “tippy tap” in the Volta Region and scale it up nationwide.

She noted that the “tippy tap”; a simple device made of assembled local materials to improve sanitation in schools had caught up with 95 per cent of school children in the Volta Region and ought to be extended to all schools in the country.

Last year, about half a million pupils in 3,900 schools in the Volta Region were targeted for Hand Washing with Water and Soap (HWWS) using tippy-taps, under a campaign funded by Unilever Global.

Madam Ackun, speaking at a forum to celebrate the success of the initiative said scaling up the WASH programme nationwide would help reduce water and sanitation related health problems.

She said because most materials needed in making a tippy tap were cheap and commonly found in the communities, it would be easier for government to implement it in other regions at a lesser cost.

Madam Justine Alornyo, Central Tongu Director of Health Services, said the implementation of the project had helped reduce diarrhoea cases in the district from 6,089 in 2016 to 4,655 in 2017.

She said the “fun activity” associated with handwashing with soap using a tippy tap was fast spreading to homes and expressed the hope that diarrhoea cases among children would continue to drop in the years to come.

Mr Isaac Tettey, the Regional Planning Officer, pledged to ensure that all Assemblies included the project and its sustenance in their Medium Term Development Plans (MTDP).

Mr Kwasi Bedzrah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho West, and the Dean Volta Caucus in Parliament reiterated the commitment of the MPs to the project. .

Reports show that hand washing with soap and water can save 1.2 million children yearly from the 3.5 million who die from serious respiratory infections and diarrhoea worldwide.

Though Ghana is a middle- income country, children continue to fall sick and die from preventable diseases with about 10, 000 dying annually.

Source: GNA