Reckitt Benckiser, manufacturers of Dettol range of products, has installed 15 handwashing units at popular markets across Accra to enforce adherence to safety protocols in order to effectively combat COVID-19.
According to the global consumer goods company, the aim of the initiative is to rekindle among market women the need to continue strictly with the adherence of the COVID-19 protocols without any compromise as the positive cases in the country drops drastically so as to avoid a second spike.
Interim Country Manager, Reckitt Benckiser-Ghana, Henry Nii Ankrah, speaking to the media on the side-line of the roll-out activity, indicated that Ghana is not completely out of the woods yet and it is very important to continuously wash hands, sanitize and use the nose mask in public places to curb the spread of the virus.
“We all understand that the pandemic has brought a lot of hardship on the country but as UNICEF and WHO has said, the most important things to do around this period is to frequently wash our hands with soap under running water, sanitise and wear our nose mask regularly.
For us, as a company our policy is to heal, nature and grow as well, so with that being in mind, as well as being a hygiene conscious organisation, we decided to do something in that line for the community.
And we very much realised that the market place is one centre that hygiene is always put at the back, because one could see that the banks, churches and other public places has hand washing stations but the markets do not and this is what we sort to do to ensure that both market women, traders, sellers and anyone who comes to the market place wash and sanitise their hands with Dettol soap and other products,” he said.
A total of 15 hand washing units were handed to market associations in 3 high-traffic markets across Accra, namely; Okaishie, Kaneshie, and Madina market.
The handwashing units has a capacity of 100 litres of water, a convenient foot pump mechanism to ensure zero hand contact with the device, and stocked with Dettol soaps to maintain high standard of hygiene.
Mr Ankrah, also indicated that the units will be managed by the Market leaders who run the respective markets but a hygiene ambassador will be appointed to each station to monitor the compliance and keep data of which weekly and monthly prizes will be given to market women who used the units most frequently for the next three months as a motivation to encourage greater use of the units.
Deputy PRO, Ministry of Health, Maame Efua Cann, indicated that the initiative by Dettol is laudable because it is a push to the effects that government is putting in place to maintain the gains and control the spread till the country is completely out of the woods.
“We are partnering them on this initiative because we also see it as an opportunity to continue with the sensitisation especially to the market women, to encourage them to keep up with the adherence to the covid-19 protocols,” she said.
The market women at Okaishie were overwhelmed with the donation to the market and the other Dettol products that were given to some of them for personal use in order to keep themselves safe as they go about their businesses.
