Clean hands, happy hands
'You know, many diseases are caught because we don't wash our hands. That's where we pick up all of the microbes, and then we put our hands in our mouths or we use dirty utensils. That's why personal hygiene is so important.' Bayardo from Barrio Pancasan - Peru
More than three quarters of diseases worldwide are caused by lack of water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. In rural communities in Chontales and Chinandega in the southwest of Nicaragua and around the Peruvian capital Lima, the rural Andean communities of Cusco, and the semi-rural population of Piura in Peru, there is no drainage system and safe drinking water is lacking.
Families are forced to use water sources contaminated by human and animal waste. The lack of clean water affects almost every aspect of people's lives: their health, their environment and their children's education.
The consequences of living in these conditions are serious: cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid, dental caries and skin disease are just some of the results of poor sanitation and lack of hygiene education, with a devastating effect on the health of children.
Like many other children in Peru and Nicaragua, Bayardo is participating in a three-year project funded by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which aims to increase awareness and knowledge of how to prevent the transmission of worms and diarrhoea and improve children's attendance at school.
In these communities, children, health and education practitioners, teachers and parents expressed their opinions on the problems affecting them and helped to identify solutions. During these consultations children discussed how diseases are spread and how they can be prevented.
They learnt simple personal hygiene practices, such as washing their hands after using the toilet and before handling food. They also learnt crucial information on the use and maintenance of latrines, water supplies, hygienic storage of food and the correct disposal of waste.
The more children learn about the importance of having 'clean hands, happy hands', the more it will benefit the wider community as they bring their new learning to parents, families and their peers.
'In my group, the problem we identified was lice. After the training I went back to my barrio and told my friends what I had learnt about lice. I told them that it would be good to check our own hair, as well as the heads of our little brothers and sisters.' Cristian - a young girl from Peru.
With the participation of their teachers, children contributed to the design and production of educational materials including an instructors' training guide, flipcharts and flashcards. The materials, appropriate to the culture and traditions of their communities, is then used by teachers in the classroom to highlight the consequences of bad hygiene and to promote good practice.
The project is part of the GSK Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) Programme; an initiative piloted with Amref (African Medical Research Foundation) in Africa and Plan in Latin America. GSK/PHASE recently won the International Business Leaders Forum Award for International Corporate Citizenship. |
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