Martin Endjala
The Mayor of Windhoek, Joseph Uapingene, has expressed concerns about the unhygienic environmental conditions observed at trading markets and inadequate infrastructures across the city as worrisome and pose serious health risks.
He said this can undermine traders’ sales and equally pose serious health risks to customers and the traders themselves.
It is for this reason, in 2018 CoW intensified its health and hygiene promotion efforts at informal food markets and ran a competition at all food handling markets, to encourage traders to keep the markets clean at all times and practice good hygiene, in the interest of public health.
The Mayor cemented this during the commemoration of the 2023 health and hygiene promotion month last week in Windhoek.
He is encouraging traders to look beyond winning trophies and to strive towards trading in clean and safe environments to increase their sales and where possible, minimise or eliminate the outbreak of diseases.
He further appealed to vendors, who will receive health and hygiene supplies, to use the items wisely and ensure that they become the shining examples of hygienic markets in the areas where they trade.
Additionally, he stressed that the health and hygiene initiative is not just a time to pay lip service to the ideals of health and hygiene, but an opportunity for action, a call to re-evaluate habits and make meaningful changes that can lead to healthier, happier lives.
Uapingene noted that it is a call to promote hygiene not just for the councillors but for the benefit of families, communities, and the world, hence urging Namibians to seize the moment to commit to a healthier and more hygienic way of life.
He said the annual Health and Hygiene Promotion Month is an initiative that was prioritised as an intervention aimed at improving and maintaining hygiene conditions at food establishments, specifically at informal food markets.
“The City of Windhoek adopted this World Health Organisation initiative and in this regard, used it as an opportunity to remind community members and food handlers about the importance and necessity of health and hygiene practices in daily living, to eliminate and reduce the spread of infections and diseases,” he said.
The mayor added that the initiative further serves as a reminder that people’s well-being is not something to be taken lightly.
“Our health is our most valuable asset and maintaining it should be a top priority. Hygiene is not merely about cleanliness; it is about preventing the spread of diseases and ensuring our bodies and surroundings are safe and free from harmful disease-causing agents,” he stated.
According to the Namibia National Demographic Survey of 2016, Uapingene said 46 percent of Namibia’s population (26 percent in urban and 70 percent in rural areas) still practice open defecation.
Therefore, the country as a whole and big parts of Windhoek still battling widespread open defecation, today presents an opportunity to rethink and design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times.
“Critical times in this instance can be defined as before eating, after using the toilet, and before cooking. Hence, our annual health and hygiene promotion month further serves to highlight health and hygiene promotion efforts targeted at schools, food handling markets and the Windhoek community at large,” said the Mayor.
