Social Mobilisation in Nouakchott to Celebrate International Hand-Washing Day
To celebrate International Hand Washing Day on October 15th 2015, World Vision Mauritania organized an awareness day in Nouakchott, in partnership with Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and the Public Hygiene Directorate in the Ministry of Health. This initiative supports Government efforts to address the challenge of public hygiene and to reinforce the knowledge and capacities of communities regarding water and sanitation.
Messages were broadcast all day long to draw people’s attention to hand-washing with soap as the most efficient way to prevent diseases.
Messages were broadcast all day long, via megaphones, in the municipalities of Sebkha, El Mina, Riyadh and Arafat in order to draw people’s attention to hand-washing with soap as the most efficient way to prevent diseases and preserve the health of the family.
In the evening, a series of animations were held in partnership with the « Caravan of Hope» in Arafat in order to go one step further in awareness-raising. A group of young animators known as SOS Peer Educators Association, (which is an association trained by World Vision on community mobilization), presented various skits illustrating examples of good practices for daily hand-washing with soap. The message was well received as about 800 people attended the event.
In a show of support for this initiative,M. Mohamed El Arby, the Municipality advisor in charge the Community and relations with NGOs, attended the event, representing the mayor of Arafat. Several artists like Oumar Dahmed and Khalifa also participated in this event, celebrating, through their songs, this simple gesture to protect oneself from disease.
Much to the delight of the audience, especially children who attended the event and are great fans, a well-known international star and actor, Bana, honored the event with his presence to support this theme.
This was a wonderful initiative paying tribute to World Vision Mauritania’s work on Social mobilization for Health, responding to the main objective of the organization: the sustainable improvement of Mauritania children’s well-being.