In a bid to boost the spirit of hand washing in Karamoja, the Government has launched a campaign dubbed I Wash, You Wash in the region.  

Eng. Olweny Lamu, the assistant commissioner for rural water and sanitation in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, said out of 100 people in the region, only 16 of them wash their hands with soap.  

“This is not good for the country because the disease burden is increasing, meaning the expenditure rate in the treatment of infections will hike as well, and yet we could prevent all this by promoting hand washing with soap,” he added.  

Today, about 75% of diseases according to Lamu are caused by unhygienic practices, which include not washing hands with soap before eating or after the use of the latrine.  

Launching the campaign at Quality Supermarket in Naalya, Kampala on Monday, Lamu said handwashing should be a leadership campaign where leaders become exemplary for the rest to emulate.  

Currently, the national rate of handwashing with soap stands at 35.6%.  

Regionally, Ankole has the highest with 49.4%, followed by Busoga at 49.2, Toro at 40.9%, Acholi region at 38.4%, Bunyoro at 38%, Bukedi at 37.8%, Teso at 37.1%, South Buganda at 33.6%, Lango at 28% and West Nile at 16.7%.  

In partnership with Quality Supermarket, Lamu said they will be able to collect pieces of soap to distribute them amongst the vulnerable primary schools in Karamoja.  

“We have specifically chosen primary schools because the students can easily adapt to the behaviour change communication, but also because they are having huge numbers of these children and are easy to access. Therefore, the messages can be spread to the communities easily,” Lamu added.  

The Uganda National Hand Initiative (NHWI) is a government-led initiative established in 2006 with an aim to make hand washing with soap at key times a common practice among Ugandans.  

The initiative strives for 100% of Ugandans washing hands with soap at all critical times by 2030.  

Hellen Mutoni, the public relations officer at Quality Supermarket, said that the shopping arena will rally their customers to donate a piece of soap to schools in the Karamoja region for every bar purchased.  

She said that the campaign is running at all Quality Shopping Supermarkets in Naalya, Lubowa, Kitende and Old Kampala up to the end of March this year.  

“We encourage all our esteemed customers to take part in this campaign, by buying a bar of soap and donating a piece at the collection points in all our branches which will be given to schools in Karamoja,” Mutoni added.  

She also mentioned that although the schools have not been identified as of now, the teams are on the ground assessing and collecting the necessary information to enable the handover process of the items.  

When to wash with water and soap?  

- Before eating  

- Before feeding the baby  

- After using a latrine  

- After cleaning a baby’s bottom.