“We Acknowledge our Future Hygiene Heros”
By Efeme Ivan, Managing Director, PPC SARL, Mile 14, Buea, Cameroon”We Acknowledge our Future Hygiene Heros”
Abstract
This article describes a non-commercial public awareness initiative aimed at improving hygiene knowledge among children aged 4 to 16 in Cameroon. Led by PPC SARL, a local pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Buea, Douala, the campaign focuses on three core behaviors: handwashing with soap, cough etiquette, and avoidance of sharing personal items. Through school visits, visual posters, and interactive demonstrations, the initiative seeks to reduce preventable infections and school absenteeism. This paper discusses the role of local manufacturers in health education and community prevention. This initiative is non-commercial. No products are sold during school visits.
Background — Preventable Infections Among School Children in Cameroon
In Cameroon, as in many low and middle-income countries, school-aged children carry a high burden of preventable infectious diseases. Diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory infections, skin infections, and intestinal parasitosis remain common causes of illness, school absenteeism, and visits to pharmacies and health centres.
Schools are high-risk environments for transmission. Children spend 6 to 8 hours a day in close contact, sharing classrooms, toilets, canteens, water bottles, and play areas. In many schools in our communities, handwashing facilities are inconsistent. Soap is often absent from toilets. Posters on hygiene are rare. Children may know they should wash their hands, but they have not been taught how, when, or why, and they have no visual reminders to sustain the habit.
The consequence is not only medical. When a child is sick, he misses class. When he misses class repeatedly, his learning suffers. When an infection spreads in a classroom, teachers also fall ill. Parents lose working days to care for sick children and spend money on treatment that could have been prevented.
As a pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Buea, Douala, PPC SARL observes this cycle daily from the treatment side. Our role is to produce medicines. But we asked a simple question: If most of these illnesses are preventable by handwashing, why should we wait to treat them?
The campaign, titled Clean Hands, Healthy Kids, was launched as a free public awareness initiative, with no sales, no contracts, and no obligation for participating schools.
To avoid overwhelming children, the campaign teaches only three messages:
- WASH — Wash your hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet.
- COVER — Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
- DON’T SHARE — Don’t share water bottles, spoons, or towels.
PPC SARL remains committed: Not only to manufacture medicines, but to help prevent the need for them