Nigeria Roadmap to Hand Hygiene for All
A comprehensive national roadmap to ensure hand hygiene is a mainstay in public health interventions.
Highlights
The Hand Hygiene for All Initiative is a global call for countries to lay out comprehensive roadmaps that bridge national COVID-19 response plans with national development goals and ensure hand hygiene is a mainstay in public health interventions beyond the pandemic.
In Nigeria, this initiative is anchored on three pillars: Political Leadership, Strong Enabling Environment and Increased Demand and Supply. It is also integral to ongoing government efforts, like the Clean Nigeria Campaign, the PEWASH Strategy and ODF Roadmap aimed at improving access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for Nigerians.
In May 2021 the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), an inter-ministerial coordination body, under the leadership of the government, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) and with the technical guidance of UNICEF and WHO, initiated the process of developing the Nigeria Hand Hygiene for All (HH4A) Roadmap. The goals and objectives of the Roadmap were defined and a plan for building evidence to inform the development of the roadmap was established. The states, traditional leadership and private sector were then brought on board through a series of live and online consultations to obtain their inputs on the situation analysis and proposed strategic solutions.
UNICEF supported the process by mobilizing partners through its sub-national presence. In addition, both private and government agencies and organizations were consulted to gather evidence. The draft Roadmap was comprehensively reviewed in a national workshop where stakeholders from the Health, Education, Environment, Planning and WASH sectors at national and sub-national levels participated. Local and international NGOs, including civil society organizations active in the WASH sector in Nigeria also participated.
The Roadmap was launched in Abuja on 6 September, 2022 by the Hon Minister of Water Resources.
