#NoChoBo, The Hand Sanitizer Distribution Campaign

There is currently a cholera outbreak in Ghana with increasing cases as the days go by. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by a bacterium known as vibrio cholerae. Symptoms of this condition include watery diarrhoea, vomiting and weakness. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by the faeces of an infected person including those infected but with no apparent symptoms.


As the spreading of cholera is primarily a sanitation problem, a campaign has been launched to get as many children as possible some free hand sanitizers to augment the hand washing with soap and general cleanliness messages. The campaign is also seeking to work as a preventive measure for the looming Ebola virus and disease of which no case has been reported in Ghana yet, despite its prevalence in some other West African Countries.

The campaign, known as the #NoChoBo Campaign is a crowd funded social campaign. The idea behind it is to get individuals to buy and donate hand sanitizers to some random children in their neighbourhood or a school and to share pictures of their gesture on social media. As part of the campaign, such persons who have taken up the challenge must then nominate three to five or more people to also take up the challenge to which they must also share pictures and nominate some more people to take it up. All updates and pictures of the campaign on social media must have the hash tag, #NoChoBo.

The #NoChoBo is an abbreviation for No CHOlera no eBOla and it is a drive started by Sakyiwaa Mensah, a Communicator and social change activist and the person behind “The SexTalk Forum”, the reproductive health forum that seeks to demystify issues regarding sex and sex education. The campaign is supported by Blogging Ghana.

The #NoChoBo campaign, started barely a week ago has had some individuals join and donate sanitizers to some random children with some opting to give sanitizers to any blind beggars they meet in traffic. The public is being advised to help and support this campaign in their own small ways, even if they are not active on social media so together, we can curb the current incidence of choler in Ghana. Help us in your own small way to reach as many children as possible with sanitizers.