Kenya hand washing drive aims to break Guinness world record

Kenya has played host to a number of events to mark global health days but one of this year’s events is set to make history and probably break records.

If the application for certification turns successful, thanks to Unilever’s Lifebuoy brand’s latest event to mark the Global Hand Washing Day, Kenya may be awarded the coveted Guinness World Record for hand washing.

In an attempt to break a similar record in a span of two consecutive years, Lifebuoy in partnership with Ecotact brought together 18,035 children drawn from various primary schools and a total of 1,300 adults in a hand washing drive held on October 15, 2010.

Last year, a similar drive through a partnership between the brand and World Health Organisation saw India being certified for attracting the largest crowd in a hand washing drive that saw 15,115 children participate.

This year’s event held at Thirime Primary School in Kikuyu constituency saw all the participants wash hands from the same place with 21,000 bars of soap and 10,000 litres of water.

Health reports

“Similar competitions have been held before through the Lifebuoy brand. Last year, India was certified by the Guinness World Record Committee for having attracted the highest number of people washing their hands at the same location. This year’s event held in Kenya is awaiting certification,” said Stephanie Nganga, Lifebuoy brand manager.

Past reports have indicated bids by Unilever to break hand washing records in Bangladesh although the attempts did not bear fruit.

“Lifebuoy brand has attempted to break Guinness World Record (TM) three times now after holding events in India, Bangladesh and this year in Kenya. But the event at Bangladesh was not certified as it failed to meet the requirements set by the committee,” adds Ms Nganga.

Local health reports have cited lack of proper hand washing as having contributed to the surging numbers of diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, especially among children.

In an attempt to maintain its market presence, Lifebuoy has spearheaded hand washing campaign initiatives through partnerships with both public and private sectors.

The latest of these was launched earlier in the year and was dubbed alliance for the promotion of hand washing with soap.

The alliance brings together stakeholders from various sectors, including hotels, schools, medical practitioners and aims at complementing the government’s efforts to promote hand washing.

Through the Ministry of Public Health and sanitation, the government has been running a national hand washing campaign that saw the inclusion of clean hand washing lessons in the primary school curricula to curb diseases fuelled by poor hygiene.

Locally, close to 30,000 lives are lost annually to diarrhoeal diseases.

Diarrhoeal illnesses contribute up to 16 per cent of total deaths among children under the age of five, representing a second cause of such mortalities after pneumonia.

Medical experts have expressed optimism that incidence of diarrhoea can be reduced by up to 45 per cent while respiratory infections can be slashed by 30pc through hand washing with soap.

According to data from UNICEF, hand washing culture in Kenya is about 10 per cent only while this is supposed to be a common practice among the population.

Compared to developed nations like UK which hit 47 per cent, it indicates that about nine out of every 10 Kenyans do not wash their hands after visiting the toilet, before eating and even after changing a baby.

It is on this platform that Lifebuoy has identified an opportunity to promote hand washing initiatives.

The local market has seen the entry of many soap manufacturers as campaigns for washing hands with soap gains momentum.

Increased competition between these companies has led to evolution of soaps from the traditional solid ones to a more convenient liquid form mainly for use in public utilities.

Brand presence

Through such campaigns, Unilever hopes to grow its Lifebuoy brands presence in the market while sensitising the population on the needs for hand washing.

“Since the introduction of the liquid lifebuoy hand wash, the product has gained appreciation in the market as we are now receiving orders for supply from companies. But the primary aim of the initiative is to teach children the importance of hand washing by partnering with both private and public schools,” says Nganga.

The latest development from the initiative was the release of clean hands study that saw the unveiling of shocking statistics of bacteria counts in unexpected areas in office and high-end hotel settings among other sampled environments.

According to the study, more than 200 bacteria species are found on the keyboard and mouse of office computers.

“These findings are serious as most people eat from their desktops while browsing their computers. You would rather eat from a well cleaned toilet. It is much cleaner,” said Prof Mohammed Karama, principal researcher at KEMRI who spearheaded the study.