WaterCan understands that the promotion of good hygiene practices make all the difference.
Risky hygiene practices such as open defecation and irregular hands washing don’t simply vanish on their own upon the introduction of new water and sanitation facilities into a community or school.
Good hygiene practices need to be promoted through well-integrated, age-appropriate and culturally sensitive hygiene promotion programs.
Simple hygiene practices like hand washing can save lives! Neglecting to wash hands after relieving oneself transmits bacteria, viruses and parasites from faeces directly to food and mouths. This leads to a host of fully preventable yet incredibly deadly diseases such as diarrhoea that claims the lives of 1.8 million children each year.
There is no “one size fits all” model for carrying out hygiene promotion activities. Hygiene education programs must be designed in collaboration with community members, particularly women, who are most knowledgeable of existing poor hygiene practices and know how best to communicate good hygiene messages to their communities.
WaterCan’s bottom-up collaborative approach to hygiene promotion makes it much more likely that community members will listen to and accept the suggested behavioral changes.
Good hygiene ensures that the full health and development benefit of new clean water and sanitation facilities are realized.
Hygiene Promotion- Old Challenges and New Ideas
Banner photo credit: Peter Bregg
