According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases.” Similarly, the Oxford Dictionary define hygiene as a condition or practice conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, especially through cleanliness.”
In another development, sanitation, according to Wikipedia, refers to public health condition related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage.
The main aim of sanitation is to protect human health by providing a clean and healthy environment that will tackle the transmission of diseases in a special manner through the fecal-oral route. And such diseases could be cholera, hepatitis, polio, trachoma and schistosomiasis and diarrhoea as a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children.
Yes, sanitation has become a tradition in some parts of this country particularly Bauchi state. Every last Saturday of the month is being observed as sanitation day and in such moments the movement of people is restricted between 8am and 10am.
Contrary to how this sanitation is being handled in some states one may say some people are being restricted from getting their daily meal because there are tons of people that usually go out around such restricted time for their daily living.
I witnessed so much of sanitation activities in some neighbouring states. For instance, in Gombe state and Rivers states people who undertake the task usually come out as early as 5am to clean everywhere before 7am and this gives the people of the state a chance to carry out their daily activities without any hindrance.
Yes, sanitation is a paramount in human lives but to some extent the way it’s handled can become a problem. This is because people are being restricted from carrying out their activities.
This sanitation is a welcome development in Bauchi state but the way people who do the task make it is quite worrisome to the people of Bauchi state and we can restructure this since people who carry the task can come out earlier to perform their duties.
Umar Faruq Ahmad,
Department of Mass Communication, Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic,
Bauchi, Bauchi state
[email protected]
