The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions by the Sekyere East District Cluster Office of the World Vision International, Ghana (WVI-G), is achieving its objective of impacting positive change in personal and environmental hygiene.

Consequently, school teachers in that District have commended the interventions in the form of the construction and provision of potable water, toilet and hand washing facilities for school children and community members of 22 communities in its operational areas in the District.

Mr. Ernest Asare Ofosu, a teacher at the Bomso Basic School, speaking at a stakeholder/donor meeting at Bomso, said WVI-G’s WASH interventions, including the “Sesame WASH UP” - a hand-washing club in schools, have gone a long way to reduce hospital visits in most families as well as stemmed open defecation.

Additionally, on hand washing, Mr. Ofosu said, the provision and introduction of the “Tippy Tap”, a hand washing device by the WVI-G in these basic schools, has served as a booster to the positive behavioural change in hand-washing among the pupils, especially after visiting the washroom before eating.

Mr. Francis Gumah, the Cluster Manager, said his outfit was committed to ensuring the wellbeing of the people in the area, especially vulnerable children.

“Embarking on WASH projects and programmes in the District and other operational areas of his outfit, was a necessity to help ensure and sustain the good health, productivity and livelihood of the people.

Mrs. Georgina Harriet Nyamekeh, the WASH Officer of the Sekyere East Cluster of WVI-G, said it was gratifying that her outfit has achieved good returns for its investments in the construction of toilet and mechanized borehole facilities in these basic schools.

She mentioned the beneficiary schools as; Bomso, Akuakrom, Seniagya, Odurokrom, Feyiase and Asukokor communities in the District.

The projects benefiting over 13,400 people in the area, has the focus of providing and ensuring easy access to safe and potable water as well as improving hygiene for pupils, teachers and rural communities in general and expressed happiness that these objectives have been achieved.

She added that the “Sesame WASH Up” club initiative was also aimed at impacting attitudinal change in the community members to arrive at the outcomes such as improved health, zero open defecation and reduced water-borne and the contracting of fecal-oral diseases.