TeckyTap: Healthy Fingers Save Lives!

Poor water quality and hygiene in communities and schools presents  immense  challenges, including  the prevalence  of  water  borne,  vector  borne  and  sanitation  related  diseases.  Which in turn affects the health and productivity of communities, particularly children, women, and the youth.

Deplorable hygienic practice are the major contributors to the spread of diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infections, both among the leading causes of mortality of children under the age of five years in Ghana. It is indicated in many researches that hand washing with soap has shown to significantly reduce the incidence of both respiratory infections and diarrhea.

We are proposing an efficient hand washing stations with Teckytap, a technologically appropriate hand-washing device to improve hand-washing behaviours of communities in six regions of Ghana. The provision Teckytap together with hygiene promotion will contribute to reduced rates of morbidity and mortality due to enteric illnesses in school age children.  

Globally more than 2 million children die from diarrheal diseases each year; the same number again die from acute respiratory infections. Comparably in Ghana, there is an estimated 9 million episodes of diarrhea each year and from this 84,000 children die from diarrhea each year, representing a quarter of all deaths among under fives.

Aside from this high morbidity and mortality caused by diarrheal diseases, In the long run, diarrheal incidences in children during their first few years of life is shown to limit their growth and cause an IQ point reduction when they progress to about 7 or 8 years of age.

 The simple hygiene behavior of washing hands with soap reduces diarrhoeal diseases by 42–47% making it one of the most effective interventions to reduce mortality and morbidity in children under five years of age.

However, rates of hand-washing with soap across the globe are universally low, and even critically low in developing countries like Ghana. Among the major causes of this low rate are lack of knowledge about the importance of hand hygiene in reducing the spread of infection, lack of understanding of correct hand hygiene technique and poor access to hand washing facilities. 

Our solution helps schoolchildren, mothers, and caretakers of children in the household to have the better knowledge and understanding of the importance of proper hand washing with tailored and age appropriate hygiene education. To promote the behavior of hand washing with soap and water, we would provide Teckytap, hand-washing device, in an established location convenient to the behavior, such as near a toilet in selected schools or selected area in communities.

Teckytap is a technologically appropriate hand-washing device operated by the foot to dispense water onto the hand during hand-washing. It is metallic and made of aluminum, galvanized pipes and plumbing items. It is fitted with a very robust but manual pumping system that can withstand the pressure of continuous use. Due to the proper coating on the galvanized pipes, the device can withstand the factors of corrosion and rust as well. The device is suitable for both children and adult and can last for up to ten years. This device is the first of its kind in the country. Combined with the hygiene education,it will contribute greatly to the reduction of cross-contamination among schoolchildren.

The target population for our proposed project are school aged children and their caretakers in the household within six regions of Ghana. The project would yield an immediate impact of improved health and decreased school absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness, to long-term benefits of improving child development and decrease the high morbidity and mortality due to diarrheal and respiratory infections in school age children by boosting the hand washing behaviors of schoolchildren and communities.

We understand that for effective and sustainable program of behavioral change, the active involvement of the target population in every step of the project is crucial. Therefore, we would involve the whole community and particularly schoolchildren, from the initial stages of designing the hygiene education; including selecting priority hygiene behaviors, understanding the influences on such behaviors, selecting educational methods, and implementation. The educational methods used will be those that strengthen and empower schoolchildren and communities to work for change.

 Our solution aims to address this target groups with tailored and age appropriate hygiene education and provide them with the means to exercise the behavior, which is hand washing, by providing a locally made, low-coast hand washing device- Teckytap in the selected schools and communities.

Several researches done regarding the motivating factors of hand hygiene, easy accessibility of hand washing facilities in areas where the hand washing behavior is desired, had significantly contributed in enhancing hand-washing behavior.

 Ghana has continued to record intermittent cholera outbreaks with the latest one in 2015 with 28,922 total cases and 243 death. Furthermore, in the recent covid 19 outbreak,hand washing is an irreplaceable preventive measure. Our solution focuses on preventive measures of such outbreaks by promoting and improving access to hand washing with soap by providing Teckytap to protect children and community members from transmitting the disease.

Teckytap is a technologically appropriate hand-washing device that is operated by the foot to dispense water. It prevents the user from touching the tap with the fingers during the hand-washing process. By the pressing of a simple paddle with the foot, water and soap dispensed for hand-washing. By this, it makes the hands so clean, contributes to the prevention of vector-borne illnesses, and prevent infectious disease outbreaks including cases like the recent pandemic of Corona virus.

What makes Teckytap unique is the foot pedal water dispensing system and the simplicity of the whole arrangement that makes it adoptable to both children and adults in different settings.

The core technology that powers our solution is the construction of a robust paddle system that triggers a fitted tap constituting a pump-like system to open from within the device for the discharge of water for hand-washing. Once the paddle pressed downwards with the foot, water comes out continuously until the user lifts the foot. The lifting of the foot from the paddle causes the water to stop flowing. This can regulate the amount of water used for hand-washing, as access to water is a major challenge in most parts of Ghana in particular and Africa as a whole.

Teckytap has since April 2019 been patronized by several organisations who either use it directly or donate to schools and health centers. In 2019 alone 244 Teckytap mini have been sold to World Vision International Ghana (Nkwanta South and Kajebi Cluster) and Plan International Ghana (Eastern Region, Central and Volta Regions) and a philanthropist Dr. Reindolf Perbi who donated to Mampong Presbyterian Primary and Junior high school.

In the first quarter of 2020, over 150 Teckytap maxi devices have been sold to over 30 institutions, organizations, and health Centers such as; Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, plan International Ghana, Right To Play International, Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, Suhum Government Hospital and the like.

Teckytap offers a technologically sound hand-washing device, which is simple to use by both children and adults in different settings. Integrating these devices with a tailored, age appropriate hygiene education we expect an immediate result of easy access for children to wash their hands more often, enhanced practice of hand washing among school age children and their caretakers and improved knowledge and understanding about the advantages of hand hygiene.

These immediate goals link to our long term outcomes including decreased morbidity and mortality of children from diarrheal diseases, reduced school absenteeism of school aged children from preventable gastrointestinal and respiratory infection and decrease venerability of children and other members of the community from the  common infectious disease outbreak like cholera and airborne infections like the current covid 19 outbreak.

The response for our range of Teckytap products is great so far. Many offices, organizations and institution choose Teckytap over other hand-washing devices because it is simple to assemble and disassemble, can be located at any location, and above all affordable. In the schools that are currently using Teckytap, we are receiving positive feed backs from school principals and teachers that the products  actually influenced the hand washing practice of the children and impacted their health positively.

Teckytap mini is currently serving over 100 schools with total population of over 10,000 children in Volta, Oti, Eastern, Central and Greater Accra Regions. Furthermore, Teckytap Maxi is serving over 2000 adults in offices, health centers, Warehouses, Work sites and events centers.

In 5 years, we hope that Teckytap, which is fast becoming a household name, should be serving over 300,000 children and 200,000 adults in Ghana and other countries.

Our goal in the next year is to increase awareness of Teckytap to inculcate the habit of hand-washing among 50,000 children and their families leading to improved quality health and increased productivity.

Our goal in 5 years is to reach to and inculcate the habit of hand-washing among some 500,000 children and their families in Ghana and other African Countries. The response for our range of Teckytap products is great so far. Many offices, organizations and institution choose Teckytap over other hand-washing devices because it is simple to assemble and disassemble, can be located at any location, is robust and built to last and above all affordable. Over the next, we would like to make the most of these adoptions of our product and partnerships reach to other regions in Ghana, in neighboring countries and later to other low socioeconomic status countries worldwide

The barriers that exist now include our inability to produce large quantities to meet timelines of customers who express interest in Teckytap and hence opt for other inferior hand-washing devices especially in emergencies. CAF does not have enough funds to produce in bulk down for supplies upon request. Our organization has financial constraints to employ other key staff such as finance officer, Monitoring and Evaluation officer etc. and pay them well. This is affecting our bookkeeping and other essential activities in our day-to-day operations. Transportation of materials and devices is also a major barrier, as we have to pay huge cost for transport thereby increasing cost of production. Our current production capacity is largely affected by workshop size and equipment availability.

Our plans to overcome the barriers are;

• Embark on Mass production to make the product available at anytime for supply thereby increasing our customer base and achieving our goal for the next year and next 5 years.
• Employ essential staff who will provide the required services to increase production and carry out best practices.Procure a truck to facilitate the transport of materials to workshop and transport of devices to customers