The training formed part of a project being undertaken by WATER, with funding from ANESVAD to tackle Skin-NTDs in the two municipalities.

Madam Yvette Neh, Project Technical officer, said the committee members were selected teachers tasked to help to form WASH clubs in the schools and other activities to promote WASH in line with the project objectives.

Already, handwashing stations and boreholes have been provided for the schools and communities as part of the project to eliminate Skin-NTDs in the area.

They included Abenta, Gbolo Kofi, Teiko and Nyamebekyere basic schools in Akuapem North, Anamenapa, Dago, Kwame Ntow, Nsakyi, Goten, Aburi Amanfrom, Ayim, Dumpong and Oboadaka basic schools within Akuapem South municipality.

The training was to equip committee members with the needed skills to reinforce the handwashing practice and hygiene in schools as well as in the communities.

She indicated the all the skin-NTDs and other infections spread through water and unhygienic conditions, hence the project was using a holistic approach by tackling the root cause besides providing for treatment for those infected.

Akuapem North and South are among districts in the Eastern Region which have communities endemic with Skin-NTDS such as Buruli Ulcer, Leprosy and Yaws, according to statistics 35 communities in Akuapem North recorded several cases of Leprosy, Yaws, and Buruli Ulcers between 2018 and 2022.