The importance of Tippy Taps within our communities

Good hand hygiene and proper sanitation go beyond schools and clinics. Edendale, on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, has many challenges, including limited access to water and good sanitation. Many households do not have running water and toilets and there are no handwashing facilities in some structures.

Tippy Taps, which are locally made devices to wash hands with running water, play an important role in the community of Edendale as they promote and ensure good hand hygiene. There is a great need for Tippy Taps to be built in the open, for communal use, especially within secured premises such schools and clinics, as they benefits children and patients in need of handwashing facilities.

Since November 2021, UNICEF Volunteers in KwaZulu-Natal Province visited different schools to get permission from the school principals to build Tippy Taps for their learners on their premises. The principals approved the idea and pledged to support our plans. They realized that the taps would help pupils reduce the chances of getting infected by COVID-19 or other preventable infectious diseases.

During the same period, we visited medical clinics and discussed our plans to build Tippy Taps within their premises. This idea was also supported by authorities as the Tippy Taps will be highly visible at the entrance to clinics and will help keep the hands of patients and visitors clean as they enter the buildings.

Additionally, UNICEF Volunteers in the Elandskop and KwaCaluza area will provide COVID-19 and vaccine information to patients.

There is clearly an ongoing need to promote handwashing and hygiene amongst learners, patients, and the greater community, so that they can protect themselves against the risks posed by COVID-19. Keeping hands clean should be easy but when there’s limited access to handwashing facilities, it’s a serious challenge that can impact people’s health and wellbeing.

That’s why I’m so proud and motivated to contribute to help keep learners and people within my community as safe as possible.

In the coming months, newly recruited volunteers across the province will build more Tippy Taps in their communities, while encouraging and assisting everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by registering them on the Department of Health’s vaccine website.