The Hygiene Championship Initiative is a sequel to the Global Handwashing Day marked on 15 October, and is also part of the national strategy for Hygiene Promotion recently developed by the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, UNICEF said in its press release.

The Initiative was flagged off at Samarkand City School #14 in the presence of regional representatives of the Ministries of Health, Education and the UNICEF team by school children and Tozavoy, the clown. Tozavoy or ‘Mr Clean’ entertained and educated children with games and his Handwashing Song. “Qo’llarimiz toza bo’lar bilib yuvsak uni agar. Sog’lom bo’lar tanamiz ham tozalikdan qilib maza.” (Our hands will become clean if we wash them in a proper way. We will have a healthy body if it enjoys good hygiene).

Tozavoy and his clown partner modelled the proper handwashing technique and reminded children of the critical times when they needed to wash hands. “We must wash hands before touching food, after using the toilet and after cleaning babies,” they told each other and the adults around them. The Samarkand school is among a clutch of 14 schools in the Samarkand, Andijan, Fergana, Namangan and Surkhandarya regions that are piloting the Hygiene Championship Initiative.

UNICEF’s handwashing message in Uzbekistan is the same as the rest of the world: a very simple act of handwashing with soap can save hundreds of thousands of children who needlessly die every year.

“Handwashing is the most cost-effective way to prevent diarrhoeal and acute respiratory infections. However, despite the evidence, the importance of this and other positive hygiene practices remains largely underestimated and often does not receive adequate attention, “ says Jean-Michel Delmotte, UNICEF Representative. “It is critical that handwashing with soap becomes routine for every child, every family, every community. We are communicating this message through the Hygiene Championship Initiative and all available channels.”

This Initiative aims to mobilize key stakeholders to improve basic sanitation conditions in schools and promote positive hygiene practices among children and their communities. It focuses on building capacities of children, families and communities in the target regions to ensure that water is kept clean and is safe for drinking, that there is sanitation for all and washing hands with soap becomes a norm. Through hygiene lessons and other learning activities that participating schools plan to introduce, children will gain knowledge and skills necessary to adopt the recommended hygiene practices and become agents of positive behaviour and social change in their families and communities.

A recent UNICEF-supported study in the Fergana Valley in 2012 confirmed that there was a strong correlation between lack of hygiene practices and the prevalence of helminthiasis in children. Helminthiasis or worm infestation if allowed to continue, leads to chronic diseases, delayed growth and stunting. UNICEF supported two campaign rounds of hygiene promotion and deworming of children under five years old in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and for children of 6-11 years old in the Fergana valley in 2011 and 2012. “However, prevention is better than cure, and there is no better prevention than washing hands routinely with soap,” said Mr Delmotte.