January 23, 2017 By Victoria Naomi Saffa
In a bid to promote hygiene, the Sierra Leone Social Aid Volunteer (SLSAV) has with support from the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF),had launched Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in eleven chiefdoms in the Port Loko district.
The launch of the programme,which was estimated to cost about seven billion Leones, took place at the Port Loko District Council Hall, brought together officials from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, UNICEF Representative and Paramount Chiefs, among others.
The eleven chiefdoms include; Buya Romende, Kaffu Bullom, Lokomasama, Koya, Maforki, Marampa, Masimera, TMS, Dibia and Sanda Magbolontor respectively.
Executive Director of SLSAV, Alfred Alex Dumbuya said the promotion of WASH facilities in different districts has always been part of President Koroma’s “Agenda for Prosperity” adding that they have been on the forefront implementing WASH in Port Loko and other parts of the country.
He showered praises on UNICEF for their timely and worthwhile support in promoting WASH facilities across the country.
He disclosed that they would also be constructing boreholes, rehabilitating old wells and building of new ones, rehabilitating and constructing of Public Health Units, as well as latrines in the eleven chiefdoms.
Also, UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Makeni, Abdulai Jalloh, said they were supporting the programme through funding from the British Department for International Development (DFID), as well as the Saving Lives and Rural WASH Programs with close oversight to be provided by district authorities.
He said SLSAV would provide the full complement of WASH facilities and services in fourteen (14) Peripheral Health Units, sixteen schools and CLTS supports activities in 44 communities in the 11 chiefdoms.
“Some of the key results we want to achieve together include the total elimination of open defecation and sustain hand washing behaviour in communities, health facilities and schools,” he said.
Jalloh noted that providing sustainable potable water and sanitation in PHUs, schools and communities along with appropriate hygiene training and promotion would without doubt reduce the incidences of water and excreta borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.
Chiefdom Speaker of Maforki, M.A. Tarawally said: “We have no doubt in SLSAV in implementing WASH facilities. This is not the first time they are doing it and intervention has always been a success.”