PESHAWAR:To promote importance of clean hands and hygiene, Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) on Friday observed ‘Global Hand washing Day’ by organizing an art competition at the Art and Design Department of University of Peshawar.

The day is marked on October 15, every year to promote awareness regarding the importance of hand washing

with soap to prevent diseases.

WSSP organized the under the UNICEF-funded Community Empowerment Project and in collaboration with Art Department.

Students of the department painted different kinds of designs depicting importance of hand washing and hygiene.

Chairperson of the Department Farida Rasheed and event coordinator Afsheen Zaman performed as judges of the event. Announcing the results, the judges declared Anam, Muhammad Abbas and Mah Rukh as the first, second and third winner of the competition for designing the best paintings.

Chief Executive Officer Dr Hassan Nasir, General Manager (Ops) Riaz Ahmad Khan and member Boards of Directors WSSP Khurshid Khan were also present on the occasion. Dr Nasir and Chairperson Farida Rashid distributed certificates among the winners.

Later, addressing the students, Dr Nasir said clean hands are fundamental component of health and safety and the first line of defense against diseases.

He urged the students to make it a habit to wash their hands regularly before eating and cooking, after using the bathroom, after cleaning around the house touching animals and family pets, taking care of any sick friends or relatives and coming back from outside.

The Chief Executive Officer lauded the students for designing the paintings and urged them to work together and create awareness regarding sanitation and clean surroundings. He said that water was a great gift of Allah and urged them to save it for future generation.

Prior to the event, banners were displaying inscribed with slogans regarding importance of hand washing.

The company also organized awareness events at different schools in parts of the city including Sahibzada Public School Hazarkhwani, Government Primary School No 1 Wazirbagh. Besides, community development officers of WSSP delivered lectures on importance of water, sanitation and hygiene to the students and distributed awareness materials among them.