Zambia Launches National Hand Hygiene for All Roadmap on Global Handwashing Day 2025
Zambia has joined the rest of the world in commemorating Global Handwashing Day 2025 under the theme “Be a Handwashing Hero!” with the official launch of the National Hand Hygiene for All Roadmap (NHH4ARM), a five-year framework aimed at institutionalising hand hygiene practices across communities, schools, workplaces, and health facilities.
The national commemoration, held at the Golden Peacock Hotel in Lusaka, brought together key stakeholders from government, civil society, and the private sector. The event was graced by the Minister of Water Development and Sanitation, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Engineer Romas Kamanga.
The newly launched roadmap represents a landmark moment in Zambia’s public health and hygiene landscape. It is the first structured national framework designed to scale up hand hygiene efforts across all sectors. Developed with technical and financial support from WaterAid Zambia, UNICEF, and other partners, the roadmap is the result of an extensive, multi-sectoral collaboration involving government ministries, health experts, development partners, and civil society organisations.
It seeks to address long-standing challenges such as fragmented coordination, inadequate financing, and uneven implementation of hygiene initiatives. Through its rollout, the roadmap will strengthen national hygiene systems, improve coordination, and direct investment towards sustainable and inclusive access to handwashing facilities in schools, workplaces, public spaces, and health centres.
Looking ahead, the next phase of the initiative will focus on operationalising the roadmap, aligning it with the National Cholera Elimination Plan, and enhancing monitoring systems to ensure that every Zambian can wash their hands with soap and water everywhere and at all times.
Speaking during the launch, Eng. Kamanga urged citizens to take personal responsibility for hand hygiene, describing handwashing as “a personal act of heroism and a daily commitment to protect families, neighbours, and the nation.” He added that handwashing with soap and water remains “one of the most cost-effective health interventions known to humanity, a vaccine we carry in our own hands.”
In her remarks, Ms Yankho Tamandani Mataya, WaterAid Zambia Country Director, said the roadmap marks a new chapter for the nation. “It moves us from fragmented interventions to coordinated action, ensuring that every Zambian, regardless of where they live, has access to handwashing facilities with soap and water,” she said.
The National Hand Hygiene for All Roadmap aligns with the Global Hand Hygiene for All Framework and supports Zambia’s commitment to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3: Clean Water and Sanitation for All, reinforcing the country’s resilience against disease outbreaks and public health threats.
