• Login
  • Register
Nairametrics
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
Nairametrics
No Result
View All Result
Home Business News

2.3 billion people do not have basic handwashing facilities at home, UNICEF warns

Uche Ndimele by Uche Ndimele
October 18, 2021
in Business News, Spotlight
2.3 billion people do not have basic handwashing facilities at home, UNICEF warns

Refugees Congolese washing hands before lunch at Songore transit camp, Ngozi province, northern Burundi, 27 October 2010.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

If there is one thing Covid 19 taught us, it is that hand washing is essential to ward off and fight off infections. Sadly, however, “globally, around 3 in 10 people – or 2.3 billion – do not have handwashing facilities with water and soap available at home,” according to UNICEF.

The situation is even worse for developing countries like Nigeria where over 6 in 10 people are without access to basic handwashing hygiene.

In commemoration of the 2021 edition of Global Handwashing Day on October 15th, the UNICEF WASH Director, Kelly Ann Naylor noted that “Global response efforts to the pandemic have created an unprecedented time for hand hygiene. Yet progress remains far too slow for the most vulnerable, underserved communities.”

RelatedStories

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

June 3, 2023
How Deola Sagoe left her father's company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

How Deola Sagoe left her father’s company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

May 20, 2023

What UNICEF is saying

With the pandemic slowly being contained through global efforts on vaccination, it does appear that people are beginning to take handwashing as a temporary thing that goes away once you are vaccinated. But the UNICEF WASH Director disagrees stating that “Hand hygiene cannot be viewed as a temporary provision to manage COVID-19.

“Further long-term investment in water, sanitation and hygiene can help prevent the next health crisis from coming. It also means fewer people falling ill with respiratory infections, fewer children dying from diarrheal diseases, and more pregnant mothers and newborns protected from preventable conditions like sepsis.”

Although UNICEF’s warning that 3 in 10 people do not have access to handwashing facilities sounds scary with respect to its impact on the fight against infections, it is actually an improvement over what the data was, about six years ago. According to available data, the global population with access to handwashing facilities has improved from 67 to 71 percent since 2015. However, given the mortality rate of Covid-19 and the need to fight it squarely, there is need to ensure that more people have access to handwashing facilities globally. Otherwise, “1.9 billion people will still not have access to basic handwashing facilities” if the current trend is allowed to continue, UNICEF warns.

To drive the severity of the situation home, UNICEF noted that the implication of 3 in 10 people not having access to basic handwashing facilities with water and soap indicates that 2.3 billion people the world over are in that category which includes 670 million people without any facility at all.

Situation in schools

Even in schools, the condition is as dire. According to UNICEF, “2 in 5 schools worldwide do not have basic hygiene services with water and soap.” This means that about 818 million students do not have basic hygiene services with water and soap while 462 million of them attend schools with no facilities at all. The situation is even more deplorable in developing countries like Nigeria where “7 out of 10 schools have no place for children to wash their hands.”

Healthcare facilities are not spared

The situation even gets scarier when viewed against the backdrop that the UNICEF data indicates that 1 in 3 healthcare facilities worldwide does not have hand hygiene facilities at points of care where healthcare workers and treatment result in contact with the patient. That sounds like a recipe for disaster and the reason why some patients go to some healthcare facilities with one infection but come back home with another.

Governments should act fast

It will take the financial muscle of the government to reverse the trend. The UNICEF estimated that “the cost to provide hand hygiene in all homes in 46 of the world’s least-developed countries by 2030 is an estimated US$11 billion.” The UNICEF therefore “urges governments to commit to providing hand hygiene, not as a temporary response to the pandemic, but as an investment in public health and economic resilience.”

What it all boils down to

It is unfortunate that students still defecate in the bush around the schools in Nigeria. It is projects of this nature that Nigerian legislators, senators and house of representative members should spend their constituent allowances on. Although the UNICEF estimated the cost in billions of dollars, it would not cost an arm and a leg to build a water system type of toilet and urinary for primary schools in each local government in Nigeria.

Tags: FeaturedGlobal handwashing
Uche Ndimele

Uche Ndimele

Uchenna Ndimele is the President of Quantitative Financial Analytics Ltd. MutualfundsAfrica.com and mutualfundsnigeria.com (both Quantitative Financial Analytics company website) is a leader in supplying mutual fund information, analysis, and commentary on African mutual funds. We provide reliable fund data; and ratings information that will add value to fund managers, the media, individual investors and investment clubs.

Related Posts

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver
Profiles

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

June 3, 2023
How Deola Sagoe left her father's company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand
Profiles

How Deola Sagoe left her father’s company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

May 20, 2023
Nigerian weddings
Lifestyle

The economics of Nigerian weddings

April 30, 2023
CBN reduces over-the-counter withdrawals to N100k, N500k per week for individuals, companies
Currencies

Updated: Tracker of CBN’s monetary policy announcements since 2020

December 10, 2022
Redesigning or sensitizing; what's the way to go?
Economy

CBN’s Intervention Funds to private sector rises to N4.8 trillion as of November 2022

November 28, 2022
SWOOTs capitalization up by N122 billion
Equities

SWOOTs capitalization up by N122 billion

November 20, 2022
Next Post
DEAL: Sendbox raises $1.8 million in seed funding to digitize deliveries for African SMEs

DEAL: Sendbox raises $1.8 million in seed funding to digitize deliveries for African SMEs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Emple
nlng
first bank








DUNS

Recent News

  • SEPLAT tops trading value as All-Share Index hits N80 trillion; ACCESSCORP leads volume 
  • President Trump issues 50-day ultimatum to Putin, threatens 100% tariffs over Ukraine war 
  • FG to establish National Design and Development Agency to support Nigerian innovators 

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

Weekly Stock Update: Nigerian Exchange Group record growth w-o-w, up by 0.48%

SEPLAT tops trading value as All-Share Index hits N80 trillion; ACCESSCORP leads volume 

July 14, 2025
President Trump issues 50-day ultimatum to Putin, threatens 100% tariffs over Ukraine war 

President Trump issues 50-day ultimatum to Putin, threatens 100% tariffs over Ukraine war 

July 14, 2025
  • iOS App
  • Android App
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Markets
  • Sectors
  • Economy
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Ads Disclaimer
  • Copyright Infringement

© 2025 Nairametrics

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Login
  • Sign Up

© 2025 Nairametrics