HANDWASHING, SANITARY FACILITIES BUSINESS BOOM AMID EBOLA OUTBREAK IN ARUA CITY

A lady cleaning some of the Jerri cans and containers at her shop in Arua city.

Photo by Anselm Ojaru.

By Anslem Ojaru

Arua City

Dealers in the hand washing and sanitary facilities business in Arua city are recording a steady increase in demand for the sanitation products, compared to earlier days before the Ebola outbreak in the country.

This is driven by strict directives on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the Ministry of Health, requiring   businesses, markets, and schools, to provide hygiene materials to curb the spread of Ebola virus.

Flavia Lekuru a stationery operator at student book center says despite the increasing demand the business operators reveal that prices have remained stable with slight changes due to supply chain distribution.

“It is high right now compared to the previous season, people come for them in large numbers including institutions, schools, so right now it has not increased like the Jik, it has remained the same price, maybe the sanitizer it’s not so much but just a little, it’s that I would advise the ones who are making them to normalize the prices so that we are able to balance our customers.”

This has also seen the increase of demand for open-tap containers with operators reporting more people procuring them compared to the previous season as one of the dealer’s shares.

“They are coming not like before we have 35 liters, then the 40 liters then we have 20 liters, yes, there sometimes they are few people but its better with the schools because they buy and even institutions and clinics.”

While the business of supplying hygiene materials like liquid soap, sanitizers, and water tanks spiked significantly, there has been a major revival in hand washing at major places across both public and private sectors within the city.