As Rwanda fights to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19, hygiene, especially handwashing with soap, is the first line of defense as well as accelerating access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). Since April 2020, WaterAid Rwanda liaised quickly with the Ministry of Health and other concerned institutions to ensure timely updates on the Covid-19 pandemic and to discuss partnership on national preparedness and response plan. In partnership with Heineken Africa Foundation (HAF) they have also been working to support communities in the face of COVID-19 and continue the implementation of the national the government’s COVID-19 prevention nationwide ‘Shishoza /Think Twice campaign’ together with the Ministry of Health and Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC). Zacharie Rugaravu, the Community based development health promotion program at the Ministry of Health during the handover of a handwashing facility at Kinyinya healthcare centre, emphasized that proper hygiene behaviors such as handwashing with soap and water, when done correctly, are one of the most cost-effective measures to prevent and fight the spread of COVID-19. “Good Hygiene means facility-water-soap is used regularly in combination. Simple hygienic practices, such as washing hands with soap and water, are essential to reducing the spread of diseases and infections. However, 33 percent of people around the globe do not use soap when washing hands resulting in millions suffering from preventable illness,” he said. He added that 80 per cent of communicable diseases are transferred through hands. Among those, 40 per cent, diabetes patients are prone to, while 20 per cent are easily transferred to respiratory disease patients. 50 per cent is due to food contamination that is also transferred by hands. According to Lambert Karangwa, the senior WASH expert, at WaterAid Rwanda, said that the campaign aims to reach 9 million people through social, digital and mass media campaigns. In addition, 50 schools across five districts were provided with hygiene supplies and eight healthcare facilities benefited from newly constructed handwashing facilities benefiting over 18,000 direct users. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and because it has built a strong expertise on WASH, the Heineken Africa Foundation is committing in the coming year to set up handwashing facilities and provide hygiene information in health centers, markets and community settings in eight sub-Saharan African countries. As a first step, the Foundation will support WaterAid and World Vision. In Rwanda, one of the eight countries targeted, a contribution from the Heineken Africa Foundation of 200,000 Euros will help WaterAid Rwanda to build and improve seven public handwashing facilities reaching 18,250 people. 50 schools will be provided with hygiene kits as soon as they can re-open. A large-scale hygiene campaign on TV and radio aims to reach millions of people.
