A statement signed by Mr Ebenezer Kofi Adu-Lartey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Divine Group International Foundation, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said hand hygiene is a social health campaign marked globally.

Madam Hilda Ayamsegna, Northern Zone supervisor of DGI foundation, also urged all school pupils to take part in its 21 days behaviour change programme.

The programme aims at encouraging pupils to adopt handwashing behaviour on five critical occasions – before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, after visiting the toilet, and during the daily bath – and spread the message to their family and friends.

The programme was able to reach a total of 567 school pupils of Faith Hill Community School of Tamale and a handwashing water tank was donated to the school.

Madam Ayamsegna said: “At DGI foundation, our commitment is to change the handwashing behaviours of 10 million Ghanaians by 2022 through educating and empowering underprivileged communities.”

“Every year, preventable diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia claim the lives of 2.8 million children across the globe before they reach the age of five.

“Such deaths can be significantly reduced if children, mothers and caregivers alike are taught to embrace the simple, yet often neglected act of handwashing with soap” she said.