The education ministry has pledged to build 200 hand-washing stations at schools over the next five years. UNICEF Cambodia
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport announced it will build at least 200 hand-washing stations a year in Cambodian schools over the next five years.
Minister Hang Chuon Naron made the pledge on Saturday at a ceremony under the theme Washing Hands for All at Peam Chi Korng High School in Kampong Cham province. The ceremony was also attended by development partner representatives.
“[We] need to build these stations in schools across Cambodia from now until 2025. We need to promote health and hygiene at schools. Washing hands is necessary for maintaining health,” he said.
Global Hand Washing Day was first celebrated globally on October 15, 2008.
Naron said it is an important day to remind the public about the importance of hand hygiene, especially washing hands with soap. The theme for Global Hand Washing Day this year is in line with the focus on Covid-19 led by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.
“Washing hands with soap is one of the most effective and simplest ways to stop the spread of coronavirus and must be a priority. We wash hands together to maintain health globally,” he said.
Naron said washing hands also reduces transmitted diseases such as 50 per cent chance of diarrhoea, 23 per cent of respiratory diseases and others such as the transmitter of cholera, ebola, shigellosis, SARS and hepatitis Type E virus. Hand washing also reduces the mortality rate of children.
He said schools without hand-washing stations need to mobilise resources to build them and assign students to practice washing their hands.
Meng Kimsan, a programme adviser at German development agency GIZ, said at the ceremony that the number of people who washed their hands after using toilets across the world accounted only for 19 per cent, or one in five people.
He said the low hand washing rate increases the risk of transmitting respiratory diseases, especially Covid-19.
“To help prevent Covid-19, the School Model Sanitation Project plans to release $125,000 to five target provinces including Kampong Cham, Tbong Khmum, Stung Treng, Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri through the education ministry. The money will be used to build hand-washing facilities for schools that lack sufficient materials,” Kimsan said.
