COVID-19 and handwashing: Implications for water use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Evaluating knowledge, awareness and associated water usage towards hand hygiene practices influenced by the current COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

“…The level of awareness regarding the transmission of COVID-19 and its various preventive measure depends significantly on various socio-economic, behavioral and psychological factors notably as gender, age, level of income, availability of handwash facilities, outdoor activities, mental trauma etc. ( Jin et al, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2020 ; Amuakwa-Mensah et al, 2021 ). Amuakwa-Mensah et al (2021) observed a heterogeneous effect of level of concern about the spread of COVID-19 on frequency of handwashing over gender, age group and water sources in 12 sub-Saharan African countries.…”

“…( Jin et al, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2020 ; Amuakwa-Mensah et al, 2021 ). Amuakwa-Mensah et al (2021) observed a heterogeneous effect of level of concern about the spread of COVID-19 on frequency of handwashing over gender, age group and water sources in 12 sub-Saharan African countries. Therefore, respondents of varying genders, ages, occupations and economic conditions have been accommodated in this study to figure out their possible impact of handwashing practices.…”

“…International organizations like WHO, UNICEF have, therefore, repeatedly emphasized on performing handwashing thoroughly with soap and water or sanitizing hands with alcohol-based hand rub to form a barrier against transmission of coronavirus. Like many other countries, the level of concern regarding virus transmission has increased the probability of washing hands with soap under flowing water for a minimum of 20 s (s) at least five times a day in Sub-Saharan Africa ( Amuakwa-Mensah et al, 2021 ). Based on a comprehensive dataset of 176 countries, Dzator et al (2021) reported that handwashing facility lessened total and new confirmed cases of COVID-19.…”

“…However, frequency of handwashing has been found to be substantially higher during the pandemic situation than the pre-pandemic period, and associated water demand has also been increased during this COVID-19 pandemic in different parts of the world ( Amegah, 2020 ; Głąbska et al, 2020 ; Pung et al, 2020 ; Rohilla, 2020 ; Roshan et al, 2020 ). Amuakwa-Mensah et al (2021) reported that the increase in the likelihood of handwashing due to the concern of COVID-19 are 3% for Benin and 6.3% for South Africa. However, people are generally unaware about wastage of water made by keeping the tap on throughout the whole handwashing process such as keeping the tap on unnecessarily during the times of lathering and scrubbing hand with soap (Sayeed et al, 2020).…”

Environmental challenges of COVID-19 pandemic: resilience and sustainability – A review

“…COVID-19 presents challenges from the perspectives of both water quality and water quantity. Implementing simple but efficient protective measures such as proper hand-washing with clean water and soap has increased the demand for clean water among the public where it is least prioritized, and the WASH sector is underfunded in low-income countries ( Amuakwa-Mensah et al, 2021 ). Even before the pandemic (2017) nine out of 10 of the 785 million people who lived in sub-Saharan Africa (400 million), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (161 million), and Central and South Asia (145 million) were reported to have limited clean water sources and were utilizing un-improved sources of surface water ( Donde et al, 2021 ).…”