An evaluation of the first six months of the communication campaign was undertaken in August 2005.   Initial analysis of the data showed increases in the rates of handwashing with soap.

Reported handwashing with soap rates for mothers after six months of the campaign were 88.7% after mother’s toilet, 55.2% before eating, 25.2% before feeding a baby and 26.2% after eating.   These rates showed marked improvements over the baseline rates.

Reported handwashing with soap rates for school children also showed improvements with 87.4% washing hands with soap at home and 51.6% washing hands with soap at school.   Other reported rates for handwashing with soap for children were 89% after toilet and 76.2% before eating.

CONCLUSION

The ongoing efforts of the Handwashing Initiative in Ghana keep reminding people of the handwashing with soap messages particularly at critical times.  The  Handwashing programme has indeed  made contamination of the hands visible. Physical obstacles to handwashing with soap clearly exist, as observed most schools  lack handwashing facilities, over 50% of the population rely on public latrines, which mostly lack these facilities and some eating places also do not have the right facilities for handwashing.  Therefore the provision of handwashing facilities is necessarily a key component of the ‘Truly Clean Hands’ campaign which must be addressed.

SUPPORT the ‘Truly Clean Hands’ initiative to sustain behavioral change through sensitization at all levels starting from our homes to the communities, schools, markets, lorry parks, eating places, funerals etc. Everybody should come on board to promote a future Ghana where handwashing with soap at critical times – after contact with faeces and before handling food is readily accepted and practiced by all.

BEWARE! YOU MAY BE EATING SOMETHING MORE THAN FOOD.

FOR TRULY CLEAN HANDS ALWAYS WASH WITH SOAP