AFRICA – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat with support from WaterAid and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched the SADC Hygiene Strategy for the period 2021-2025, the Regional Economic Community said in a press release.

SADC disclosed that the organization will engage and work with key partners including civil society and development agencies in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to ensure that sufficient resources are committed to enable effective implementation of the strategy.

In addition, UNICEF together with the World Health Organization initiated a drive for “Hand Hygiene for All (HH4A)” that perfectly aligns to the pillars of the SADC Strategy ranging from political leadership, financing for hygiene, capacity building, demand and supply.

The Southern African Development Community is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana with an aim to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development for the peoples of Southern Africa.

The mission of SADC is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient, productive systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security; so that the region emerges as a competitive and effective player in international relations and the world economy.

The Regional Economic Community comprises of 16 Member States namely Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC Hygiene Strategy seeks to upscale capacity building for the Region’s hygiene sector and provide a framework for the financing of hygiene activities and the strategy marks a huge milestone in the realization of political commitments made previously by Ministers of Health.

The Botswana-based body announced that the launch was attended by SADC Member States, development partners and donors who reiterated the importance of the Strategy as a tool to address persistent poor hygiene practices.

During the launch ceremony, SADC Member States were urged to note that basic access to water, sanitation and hygiene practices have a contributory factor to the nutrition status especially of children under 5 years.

The presence of research institutions such as AUDA-NEPAD Southern African Network of Water Centres of Excellence (SANWATCE) represented by Dr Nico Elma provided assurance and commitment towards evidence generation and supporting community of practice on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

The Southern African Development Community said that Member Sates shared their experiences and agreed that in order for hygiene practices to be improved, there will be a requirement for strong implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems in the Region.

Furthermore, hand hygiene has received unprecedented prominence as the first line of defense in national COVID-19 prevention strategies thereby positioning hand hygiene as an important long-term public policy issue.

Director of Social and Human Development in the SADC Secretariat Ms Duduzile Simelane noted that the Region continues to report recurrent outbreaks of life-threatening diseases while access to handwashing in the Region remains very low especially amongst rural populations.

Ms Duduzile Simelane said access to hand hygiene and practice remains inadequate with the requisite facilities to support behaviours change for hygiene lacking in many SADC Member States, adding that access to water and sanitation services is key as these are enablers of good hygiene practices.

At the same time, WaterAid Regional Director for Southern Africa Robert Kampala acknowledged that the adoption and launch of the SADC Hygiene Strategy for the period 2021-2025 is a highly significant milestone for the Region.

“The official launch of the SADC Hygiene Strategy reflects how seriously Member States take the issue of good hygiene. It’s now key that Member States back up this strategy with enough money, personnel and expertise,” Robert Kampala stressed.

He reaffirmed that WaterAid continues to state that improved access to clean water, good sanitation and basic hygiene is absolutely key, noting that WaterAid will provide support in rolling out the SADC Hygiene Strategy in the Member States.

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