In South Africa, the government's earliest response to COVID-19 prioritised the protection of specific population groups and spaces. Children and young people in educational institutions were the first groups to have their main activity, school and tertiary learning, disrupted by the pandemic. One of the key interventions to curb the spread of the virus is the handwashing campaign, which is based on the Department of Health's National Hand Hygiene Behaviour Change Strategy 2016-2020.
Human Sciences Research Council (Sat,) studied this question.