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In the wake of the Ebola scare that is looming large in parts of our
West African sub-region and the high incidence of cholera in Ghana,
there is a high demand for hand sanitizers.
In addition to hand sanitizers, wipes are also a preferred choice for
the Ghanaian who is unable to wash hands with soap and water.
The English online dictionary Wikipedia defines a sanitizer as a
supplement or an alternative to hand washing with soap and water. Also
known as hand antiseptic, sanitizers are antiseptic products used to
avoid the transmission of pathogens and they come in gel, foam, and
liquid solutions. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are more effective at
killing microorganisms than soaps and do not dry out hands as much.
Alcohol rub sanitizers are known to mostly kill about 99.999 per cent
of bacteria, fungi and some viruses 30 seconds or a minute after
application on the hands.
With Ghana registering about 300 cholera cases daily, many have
resorted to the purchase of hand sanitizers to protect themselves from
the disease and deadly pestilence.
A quick survey
A quick survey at some of the shopping malls in Accra reveals a
shortage in hand sanitizers and hand wipes. The survey also indicates
that the prices of both the hand sanitizers and wipes keep rising by
the day. At the Oxford Street shopping mall located at Osu, one of the
shop attendants told this writer that they had run out of stock since
Monday. She added that hand wipes also did run out of stock but they
got more supplies during the week. ‘The price of hand sanitizers used
to be GH¢3.00 for the Carex brand and GH¢4.00 for either the Purell
or the Kleenex brand. Now Carex is going for GH¢6.00 and Purell for
GH¢7.00.’
At the Madina branch of Melcom, hand sanitizers had run out of stock
at the time the reporter visited. Ophelia, a shop attendant, tells The
General Telegraph Business Desk that many people used to come in and
buy them in bulk, perhaps to resell at higher prices. Ophelia adds
that since the outbreak of cholera in Ghana and the Ebola scare, many
brands of imported sanitizers have shown up on the market. “Brands
like Pharmadem, Sivoderm, Sanigel, Samocid and Dettol are on the
market,” Ophelia added.
She disclosed that when they had hand sanitizers in stock they could
sell at most 20 of them and about 10 of hand wipes. “The least we ever
sold in a day was ten hand sanitizers and three wipes,” Ophelia said.
The A&C shopping mall at East Legon sold their last stock over the
weekend, but it is still a hot commodity that many consumers ask for.
A petty trader at the Madina market says she has made a lot of money
out of the sale of hand sanitizers over this short period. For her, it
is the new lucrative business in town and she, like other market
women, is cashing in. “The Pharmadem and Sivoderm brands of hand
sanitizers used to go for GH¢2.00, but now they are selling at
GH¢5.00. I buy them for GH¢3.50 or GH¢4.00 and sell them for GH¢5.00.”
For health reasons many now carry sanitizers with them every day.
What makes it fascinating is that many celebrities and others have
come up with campaigns to stop the spread of cholera, and of Ebola
should Ghana ever report a case. Their campaign centres on giving one
child a hand sanitizer and teaching children how to use them, thereby
preventing cholera. Such high patronage may account for the shortage
of the commodity.
In one busy wholesale and retail shop at Madina, I overheard a shop
attendant telling her other colleagues not to release the remaining
pack of Carex hand sanitizers on the shelf, as that was their last
stock. I could infer from this that they intended hoarding the
product and later sell it at an exorbitant price, which is nothing new
to Ghanaian traders. It saddened my heart to hear what she said.
What the doctors are saying
As Ghanaians continue to behave as though hand sanitizers were a cure
for cholera or Ebola, I read a story in the dailies captioned “Not
all hand sanitizers can kill viruses.” In the story, the Research
Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Dr Kofi
Bonney, cautioned the public to carefully choose the types of hand
sanitizers they buy from the market.
According to the doctor, some hand sanitizers are manufactured to
kill bacteria, some to kill germs or viruses, fungi etc. It is
highly probable, therefore, that some of the sanitizers on the market
are not effective in the fight against viruses.
In my bid to find out more, I interviewed Dr Vincent Ganu, a general
medical practitioner with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, on whether
sanitizers can protect one from Ebola infection.
“Using sanitizers cannot prevent you from contracting Ebola, but then
it reduces the risk. There are many types of hand sanitizers, so we
should be careful what we buy,” Dr Ganu reiterated.
Dr Vincent Ganu who doubles as the president of the Korle Bu Junior
Doctors Association, revealed that “there are a lot [of
sanitizers] on the market, but no matter the type of sanitizer you
use, it cannot prevent contracting the [Ebola] disease, should it be
recorded in Ghana.”
On what a buyer should look out for in a hand sanitizer, Dr Ganu
advised that one should look out for hand sanitizers with alcohol
content of about 70 per cent or more.
For the education of all, the active ingredients in hand sanitizers
are isopropanol, ethanol, n-propanol or povidone-iodine. All those
actively patronizing hand sanitizers are well advised to check the
alcohol percentage before buying them.
Credit: General Telegraph | Eyra Doe
