WaterAid Nigeria has urged Nigerians to embrace regular handwashing as a life-saving habit, describing it as critical to safeguarding public health, especially in communities with limited access to clean water and hygiene facilities.
The Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria, Ms Evelyn Mere, made the call in a goodwill message to commemorate the 2025 Global Handwashing Day on Wednesday in Lagos.
The theme of the event is: “Be a Handwashing Hero.”
The event, which held at Ojodu LCDA was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, development partners, and civil society organisations.
Mere said the theme was both a call to action and a reminder of everyone’s responsibility in preventing the spread of diseases through handwashing with soap.
“Handwashing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent diseases, yet millions still lack the facilities or awareness to practice it consistently,” she said.
She emphasised that clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene were the foundation of public health, dignity, and prosperity, with handwashing at the centre of this.
Citing the latest WASHNORM data, she noted that although 88 per cent of heads of households know at least two critical handwashing times, only eight per cent demonstrated proper handwashing behaviour.
“This gap between knowledge and practice is alarming and requires urgent collective action,” she said.
Mere urged citizens to become “handwashing heroes” by regularly practicing proper handwashing, encouraging others, and ensuring the availability of soap and water at handwashing stations, especially in schools, health centres and public spaces.
She reaffirmed WaterAid’s commitment to working with government and partners to scale up hygiene promotion, improve systems, and ensure universal handwashing – not only on Global Handwashing Day but every day.
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“Together, we can all be handwashing heroes, safeguarding the health and dignity of every Nigerian,” she said.
The day was marked at the Ojodu LCDA with a sensitisation walk on the need to imbibe good hand washing behavior.
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