A Ghanaian biologist’s response to a workplace problem became a familiar handwashing arrangement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Veronica Bekoe was thinking about how people could wash their hands in health facilities without running water.
The Ghanaian biologist’s answer was practical: fit a tap to a container and let water flow out as needed. The arrangement became known as the Veronica Bucket.
In a firsthand interview with Akosua K. Darkwah in Feminist Africa, Bekoe recalled developing it in the early 1990s while working on improvements to health facilities.
The problem was in front of her
During visits with USAID consultant Joanne Hettrick, Bekoe saw facilities relying on bowls and buckets where piped supplies were unavailable.
She drew inspiration from covered aluminum containers used by porridge sellers. A plumber she identified as Musah helped turn the idea into working prototypes.
The details matter because the invention was not simply a finished object appearing at once. Different materials and fittings had to be tried.
Bekoe explained that the early aluminum versions were followed by plastic containers.
Why the tap made a difference
A container fitted with a tap can dispense a stream without people placing their hands in a shared bowl.
The bucket provides access to flowing water; effective handwashing also depends on clean water, soap, and proper use. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s March 2020 account connected the design’s increased demand with public guidance to wash hands using soap under running water.
It is a tool supporting hygiene, rather than a stand-alone guarantee against infection.
A familiar object with a person behind it
The broadcaster identified Bekoe as the inventor and described her work at the National Public Reference Laboratory in Accra.
The pandemic brought new public attention to a design developed decades earlier. Claims that it stood at “every” public doorway overstate that reach, but its widespread visibility in Ghana was well documented.
Her story highlights the expertise behind a simple object. Bekoe understood the working conditions, noticed what was missing, and helped make a usable response from familiar materials.
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