Petronella Sibeene
3 December 2008
Windhoek — A leading research based pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) has availed close to two million Namibian dollars in funding to government for programmes aimed at addressing health care challenges.
The move follows the signing of a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Health and Social Services, GSK and UNICEF last month. This private-public partnership will promote hygiene and sanitation in Namibia.
Over one million Namibians have no access to proper sanitation.
Applauding GSK for the N$1.923 million funding, UNICEF Country Representative, Ian MacLeod, urged the civil society to join the campaign that promotes hygiene and sanitation in the country.
Last month, Namibia for the first time, participated in celebrating Global Hand Washing Day with the aim to sensitise the masses on the need to wash hands with soap to prevent common diseases such as diarrhoea.
The campaign, which will run until end of 2009 with financial support from GSK, intends to raise awareness about the benefits of hand washing.
The campaign targets the entire population with the main focus directed towards mothers and other caregivers of children under the age of five.
Another target will be schools and children of school-going age, who often find themselves as caregivers to their younger siblings.
The lack of sanitation combined with limited basic knowledge in hygiene has contributed to a large extent to diarrhoea-related deaths in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, diarrhoea is the third most common cause for hospital admittance and in 2005, the disease accounted for 23 percent of the under-five mortality.
"There is evidence to show that washing hands with soap after defecation and before eating can cut the infection rate from acute respiratory infections by about 25 percent hand washing with soap cuts the incidences of diarrhoea by 50 percent," said MacLeod.
While the country's scenario is not unique in the region, MacLeod says at policy level, government is committed.
"However, our challenge is to build on this political commitment and not only ensure households have access to clean water and latrines, but also to transform hand washing with soap into an ingrained habit that is performed in homes, schools and communities all over Namibia," he said.
About 34 percent of Namibian schools have no hand washing facilities on the school premises while 35 percent do not have toilets.
Nearly 1.3 million of the country's population has no proper toilet facilities with 84 percent being in rural areas.
Namibia aims to achieve 62 percent sanitation coverage by 2015.
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