Musanze-The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana, Monday, spearheaded a hygiene campaign in Musanze District, aimed at promoting use of clean toilet facilities in homes and public places.

The environmental campaign aims at sensitising the public on the importance of hand washing as a key to eliminating preventable diseases resulting from poor hygiene.

After inspecting several homes in Nkotsi sector, Dr. Ndagijimana, urged residents to change their mindset on hygiene to live better and healthier lives.

"Everybody should get involved in this campaign. Without such a campaign, we need to remind residents about the dangers of using toilet facilities.

For instance, it is known that  children under five years become stunted while over 11 percent of them die from diarrhoea and another  25 percent of pupils in primary school stand to get  worms…we should reverse this trend,’’ he said.

The delegation noted that some homes in Musanze and other districts within the Virunga area have shallow dirty pit latrines due to the volcanic rocks underground, which pose a big health threat.

"We visit homes and encourage them to dig latrines of at least of 2-3 metres. People used not to care about hygiene but this has to stop,’’ said Domitilla Dukundane, a community health adviser.

The Ministry of Health is encouraging people to acquire eco-friendly toilets to promote hygiene.

Officials from the ministry also demonstrated to the residents other new measures aimed at boosting hygiene.

Ends