The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it has intensified action towards ensuring that every household in Anambra State has a toilet.
Project Officer, SOMTEC in the state Ministry of Information and Communication Strategy, Mrs Chineze George Ileka, made the disclosure during the orientation of UNICEF volunteer influencers at Oba and Akwa-Ukwu in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state.
She explained that UNICEF wants all-round development and healthy living for people in various communities.
She said the volunteer influencers as character molders would visit landlords in their various communities to sensitize them on essential family practices, including erecting toilet facilities with running tap water for hand washing.
Ileka called on those who have not erected one to do so to ensure that people no longer defecated openly, washed their hands immediately after using the toilet and kept the toilet clean, using disinfectants.
While instructing the influencers to educate the members of their communities on the importance of washing hands with soap or ashes, the project officer also encouraged them to advise mothers to give their babies all necessary immunization to prevent child-killer diseases.
She underscored the importance of extra carefulness in handling food and keeping all utensils clean, particularly in this period of diarrhoea, measles and other air-borne diseases.
The UNICEF Coordinator in Akwa-Ukwu, Mr. Michael Chukwura and the leader of the women in the community, Mrs Caroline Eboka, assured that they would work as a team to ensure that the entire Idemili South was certified open defecation free.
