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NewsDay

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Parents urged to value sanitation, hygiene

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Director of environmental health services in the Health and Child Care ministry, Goldberg Mangwadu has called for the protection of children from the ill effects of poor sanitation and lack of hygiene.

Director of environmental health services in the Health and Child Care ministry, Goldberg Mangwadu has called for the protection of children from the ill effects of poor sanitation and lack of hygiene.

Staff reporter

Speaking at the Unilever-organised Global Hand Washing Day commemorations in Harare on Thursday, Mangwadu encouraged caregivers to help children develop the life-saving habit of hand washing with soap.

“The Ministry of Health and Child Care is supporting hand washing campaigns and the Help a Child Reach 5 mission simply because hand washing with soap saves lives,” he said.

To mark the day, under Lifebuoy brand, Unilever educated children of Chitsere Primary School in Mbare on the importance of hand washing with soap, as part of its Help a Child Reach 5 campaign aimed at curbing preventable deaths of children under five years. As part of Lifebuoy’s commitments to, decreasing child mortality and achieving the ambitions set in Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan, Lifebuoy aims to change the hand washing behaviour of one billion people globally by 2020.

According to World Health Organisation statistics, every year, more than 3,5 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhoea and pneumonia.

“This year alone we have reached over 46 000 children from five communities (in Zimbabwe) to develop healthy hand washing habits,” Anele Zunga, acting country manager for Unilever Zimbabwe said.

Hand washing with soap is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce preventable diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia – the main causes of child mortality.