Oyo Govt, Stakeholders Integrate Efforts Against Covid-19, Waterborne Diseases

The Oyo State government through the State’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), in conjunction with WaterAid Nigeria and the Living Word Mission International, has launched the second phase of the Scale-up Hygiene Project, to further reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other waterborne diseases in the State.

This was made public at a special meeting of the State’s Steering Committee on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene ((WASH) at the Conference Room of Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Resources, Ibadan, on Thursday evening.

The meeting which was chaired by the Chairman OYORUWASSA, Engr. Najeem Omirinde, deliberated on building on the achievements of the first phase of the Scale-up Hygiene Project, in the areas of strengthening structures for water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery by increasing access to clean water.

While appreciating the Oyo State team of Water Aid Nigeria and Living Word Mission International for their support for the success of the project, the Acting General Manager of OYORUWASSA, Mr. Adeniyi Adeduntan solicited for more focus on achieving success in the second phase of the assignment.

Oyo State HAF II Project Lead for WaterAid, Mrs Idowu Adebayo said the Second Phase of the project will consolidate on the achievements of the earlier efforts made on the first phase by increasing access to potable water, improve hygiene as well as reduce the spread of Covid-19 virus.

“The scale- up hygiene project- phase ii is to consolidate on the wins from the first phase, increase access to improved hygiene, reduce the spread of Covid-19 virus and support national and sub-national governments to integrate water, sanitation and hygiene in their Covid-19 response and vaccination strategy.

“Building on the achievement of the first phase of the intervention, phase 2 of the scale- up hygiene project is designed to strengthen governance structures for water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery to increase access to clean water and hygiene services, under the project, hygienic behavioral change interventions will be implemented as a strategy to control the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria.

“This Emergency response will support the government’s efforts to curtail the spread of the pandemic by providing semi- permanent and permanent hand washing facilities in strategic locations and distributing hygiene packs to vulnerable populations in the State.”

She stated further that parts of the project approach is hygiene promotion to empower target audience with knowledge on key hygiene behaviors based on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendations and WaterAid expert’s knowledge on the role of clean water and hygiene in stemming the pandemic.

Also, according to Adebayo, advocacy efforts to influence key decision makers towards integrating WASH procedures in Covid-19 vaccine roll out and post pandemic recovery plans will be in place to ensure sustainability.