WaterAid Nigeria with funding support from Kimberly Clark Corporation is implementing the Integrated Hygiene and Health Programme (I-HHP) project to reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity incidence through improvement in sanitation and hygiene services and behaviours in communities and healthcare facilities in Ikorodu North and Ojodu Local Council Development Areas (LDCs) in Lagos.
Mrs. Grace Uwadiale, Consultant on Kimberly Clark Sanitation and Hygiene Implementation Project in Lagos State, who made this known at the inception and planning meeting with stakeholders in Ikeja on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, disclosed that the I-HHP leverages achievements, structures and mechanisms of the Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement (SHI) project which was targeted at improving hygiene behaviours among nursing mothers and the most vulnerable communities in Ikorodu and Ojodu LCDAs.
Uwadiale said: “In Lagos State, despite being one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest growing urban coastal cities with a population of 22 million, access to quality WASH services has not kept pace with rapid growth. The 2021 Water Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) reported that only 15% of the population have access to safely managed sanitation and 29% with limited coverage in healthcare facilities. The lack of access has severe implications for hygiene, particularly in healthcare settings where inadequate infrastructure contributes to increased rates of infant mortality and waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid fever.
“So, the objectives of the project is to improve water and sanitation facilities in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), integrate and sustain hygiene and sanitation behaviour change campaigns within PHCs in the two LCDAs, strengthen the capacity of Ward Health Committee Officers in charge and healthcare workers to sustain hygiene behaviour change and WASH facilities maintenance, re-enforce hygiene and sanitation behaviour change campaign communities, and advocate for prioritisation of WASH in Lagos State.”
With I-HHP project, WaterAid Nigeria will upgrade and rehabilitate water and sanitation facilities provided in the first phase of the project as well as upgrade two primary healthcare facilities with health equipment.
WaterAid will provide 30,000 pregnant and nursing mothers, patients and their caregivers with water, sanitation and hygiene services while 20,000 people in communities will also be given basic sanitation and hygiene services during the intervention programme.
WaterAid Nigeria will be implementing the I-HHP project with Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO), Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board (LSPHCB), WASHCOMS, LCDAs, CDAs, CSOs and WASH Media Network.
By Ajibola Adedoye
