WaterAid Ghana, a water and sanitation focused organization, has donated hygiene equipment and materials to two districts in the Upper East Region to boost their efforts at controlling the spread of the coronavirus.

The support given to Bongo and Kassena-Nankana West districts was aimed at complementing government’s efforts at resourcing health facilities and providing decent alternatives to practising the precautionary protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

The items were 30 complete veronica bucket sets including metal stands, water container, (100 litres), liquid soap, washing bowls, tissue holder and waste bin.

The others included, five non-contact thermometers, 350 bottles of 250 millilitres of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, 1000 pieces of nose masks, 300 bottles of 350 millilitres of liquid soap and 300 gallons of five litres of liquid soap.

Presenting the items to the districts in Bongo, Mr Felix Gbevillah, a Programmes Officer at WaterAid Ghana, who spoke on behalf of Mr Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed, Country Director, Water Aid Ghana, stated that the gesture was in support of government’s call for the adherence to good hygiene practices to stop the spread of the virus in the country.

While commending government for the numerous measures undertaken to deal with the spread of the pandemic and save lives, the Programmes Officer urged Ghanaians to take their destinies into their own hands by practising personal hygiene and other safety measures including social distancing.

He said good sanitation and personal hygiene especially regular hand washing with soap under safe running water was one of the surest ways of preventing oneself from getting infected.

“If everyone, everywhere had a place to wash their hands with soap and water as often as needed and practised good handwashing behaviour, Ghana would contain and prevent the spread of many diseases, including COVID-19, however, some of our communities do not have adequate safe water or a place to wash their hands”.

“We hope this donation will go a long way to protect health workers in the Bongo and Kassena-Nankana West Districts as they take care of their clients,” he added.

Receiving the items on behalf of the management of the two districts, Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bongo, expressed gratitude to WaterAid Ghana and said the donation was the biggest the Assembly had received since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.

Whilst assuring the donors that the resources would be put into good use, the DCE said authorities and health professionals in the district were working hard to ensure that the district did not record any fatality due to the virus.

The DCE appealed to other organizations to assist the district to be well prepared to handle the pandemic, considering the fact that the district was one of the biggest districts in the region and was closer to the Burkina Faso border making it prone to the infectious disease.

Mr Adjei Frimpong, the Regional Deputy Director of Administration, Ghana Health Services, thanked WaterAid Ghana for the support and said it would go a long way to boost the confidence of the health professionals especially the frontline workers.

He said so far, about seven out of 11 people in the region had been tested negative, while the other test results were still pending.