Describing it as a “Do it yourself vaccine,” she said, if it was done before meals and after visiting the toilets, hand washing would help eliminate diarrhoea and other respiratory diseases.

She was addressing the Global Hand washing Day held in Accra on Monday, on the theme: “Clean hands, a recipe for health.”  It was attended by selected schools in the Accra Metropolis.

She said the about 1.4 million children under five who died worldwide annually from diarrhoea and pneumonia could have been saved by ensuring simple hygienic behaviour such as hand washing.

The Second Lady said washing the hands with soap under running water was the effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and commended Unilever-Ghana for organising the programme with support from the Netherlands to increase awareness and understanding, among especially, children and women.

As managers of the home, women formed part of every meal from preparation to consumption, thus, it was in the right direction that they were involved in the process, she added.

She urged the children to be ambassadors in their communities by sharing the information with friends and family.

Mrs Bawumia pledged that the Samira Empowerment and Humanitarians Project would partner Unilever to empower society and guarantee better lives for the citizenry on good hygiene practices.

Mr Ronald Strikker, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, noted that the benefit of hand washing was good as it was part of the Sustainable Development Goals six (SDGs 6), which ensured the provision of water and sanitation (toilets).

He said Ghana did not provide enough of the clean and safe drinking water expected under the goal six and urged Ghana to get that as it was lagging behind when it came to provision of potable water and sanitation for its people.

However, he promised that Netherlands would support government so that thousands of Ghanaians would have access to proper sanitation and clean water under the Ghana-Netherlands WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Programme.

The Dutch Government had committed 18 million Euros as part of the Private Sector Partnership to improve water and sanitation, change behaviour by encouraging children to regularly wash their hands, saying, 16 of such projects were ongoing and 240 schools in Ghana were beneficiaries.

Mr Yeo Ziobeieton, the Managing Director for Unilever, called for support against Diarrhoea, the third leading cause of death among children, which was related to unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.

Unilever a result, had introduced the Hi-Five campaign aimed at sensitising children, especially, on hand washing and had educated eight million children for the past years on hand washing and brushing their teeth daily.

Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah, Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources and Madam Barbara Ayisi, Deputy Minister for Education, pledged their support for the Hi-Five campaign and other projects.

There were drama, music and dance to promote hygiene among the pupils and students’ environment.

Buckets, cups and a quantity of soap were donated to the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service to encourage hand washing among Ghanaians.

Also in attendance were Mrs Tina Mensah, Deputy Minister for Health, Madam Cynthia Morrison, Minister Designate, Gender, Children and Social Protection, Religious and Traditional leaders, among others.