Zimbabwe, Chitungwiza: factors leading to poor water sanitation hygiene among primary school going children

Journal of Public Health in Africa, March 2012

Factors leading to poor water sanitation hygiene among primary school going children in Chitungwiza

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Blessing Dube, James January

Although the world has progressed in the area of water and sanitation, more than 2.3 billion people still live without access to sanitation facilities and some are unable to practice basic hygiene. Access to water and basic sanitation has deteriorated in Chitungwiza and children are at risk of developing illness and missing school due to the deterioration.

We sought to investigate the predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors that are causally related to water- and sanitation- related hygiene practices among school going children. A random sample of 400 primary school children (196 males, 204 females) in four schools in Chitungwiza town, Zimbabwe was interviewed. Behavioural factors were assessed through cross examination of the PROCEED PRECEDE Model. The respondents had been stratified through the random sampling where strata were classes. A structured observation checklist was also administered to assess hygiene enabling facilities for each school.

Children’s knowledge and perceptions were inconsistent with hygienic behaviour. The family institution seemed to play a more important role in life skills training and positive reinforcement compared to the school (50% vs 27.3%). There was no association between a child’s sex, age and parents’ occupation with any of the factors assessed (P=0.646). Schools did not provide a hygiene enabling environment as there were no learning materials, policy and resources on hygiene and health. The challenges lay in the provision of hygiene enabling facilities, particularly, the lack of access to sanitation for the maturing girl child and a school curriculum that provides positive reinforcement and practical life skills training approach.

Kenya, Nyanza Province: UN-HABITAT and Government of Italy join hands in schools’ sanitation

A partnership between UN-HABITAT and the Government of Italy will provide clean water and better sanitation facilities to over 15,000 pupils in Kenya through the construction of rainwater harvesting tanks and latrines.

Pupils at Maranda Primary School in Nyanza Province washing their hands at one of the hand-washing facilities constructed by Sustainable Aid in Africa. Photo: UN-HABITAT

The US$ 300,000 project, being implemented by Kenyan NGO Sustainable Aid in Africa (SANA), will also support the creation of School Health Clubs to promote best hygiene practices in the selected schools and host communities, with emphasis on hand washing with soap after using the latrines.

Multi-stakeholder forums in the project towns established under the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative have identified beneficiary schools based on criteria aimed at ensuring that thirty of the most deserving primary schools in the municipalities of Kisii, Homa Bay and Bondo are targeted by the project. This will improve the health status and learning environment for the highest possible number of pupils.

The project was launched at Bar Muofu Primary School in Bondo District, District Commissioner Mr. Salim Hohamud. The provincial administration will provide all the administrative support and coordination between all relevant ministries, as well as providing assistance in the monitoring and evaluation of the project at local level.

Noting that a better urban future is achievable by focusing on projects that improve the quality of life for children and the youth, Mr. Laban Onong’no the Chief Technical Adviser for the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative said the schools sanitation project was one of several projects being implemented by UN-HABITAT under the initiative. Other on-going projects for Bondo include rehabilitation and expansion of the water supply network for the town, a solid waste management project, training and capacity building for local artisans, support in urban planning, and the development of a comprehensive environmental sanitation and conservation strategy.

Since inception 10 years ago, Sustainable Aid in Africa (SANA) has mobilized over Kshs. 155 Million to support school based water, sanitation and hygiene education in Nyanza Region, benefiting over 58,000 pupils, and facilitated the establishment and training of 196 School Health Clubs in Nyanza Region. The organization is also implementing a project to provide microcredit for sanitation in the three municipalities through the support of UN-HABITAT that targets female-headed low-income households.

Promotion of proper use and maintenance of the installed facilities will be emphasized using loud hygiene messages placed strategically within the school compounds. Fliers, the use of talking walls, and social marketing techniques and sanitation campaigns by Village Resource Persons and School Health Clubs will be used to promote sanitation in the communities around the schools. Area based sanitation working group will be introduced to scale up sanitation coverage in the target communities.

Related web site: WASH in Schools

Source: UN-HABITAT, 02 Feb 2010

Uganda: Lango, Acholi Schools Get Sh5 Billion Water Tanks

Primary schools in Lango and Acholi sub-regions have received water tanks worth sh5b from the Netherlands government. The 1,041 tanks are part of the 22m euros, which the education ministry received from the Netherlands government in 2008. “At least one million primary school pupils will get safe and clean water,” the education state minister, Kamanda Bataringaya, said at the handover at Kuruma Falls in Amuru district on 19 June 2009. Part of the funds are being used to buy textbooks and to construct classrooms, teachers’ houses and latrines.

Source: Ronald Kalyango, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 21 Jun 2009

Uganda, Kampala: schools to get water and sanitation project

RUBAGA, Kawempe and Makindye divisions are to benefit from a sh2b [US$ 900,000) water and sanitation project that targets garbage collection and maintenance of hygiene in schools. The one-year project will target primary schools in the divisions. Already, sh100m [US$ 45,000) has been put aside for ventilated pit-latrines, hand-washing equipment and water tanks. [...] The Community Integrated Development Initiative will implement the project in collaboration with Kampala City Council.

The project coordinator, Teo Namata, said a survey in the city divisions showed that the sanitation in schools was appalling as the majority lacked latrines. “In one of the schools, we found 900 pupils and only two latrines for all the pupils,” Namata said. She said teachers and pupils will also be trained on how to operate the facilities given to the schools. The school project involves rain water harvesting programmes. Schools will also be given water tanks for tapping water. A total of 3,610 students and teachers are expected to benefit from the hygiene education component.

Source: Juliet Waiswa, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 12 May 2009

Gambia: Health Education Unit Sensitizes Teachers on Sanitation and Hygiene

The health education unit of the Department of State for Health recently organised a one day sensitisation workshop on health sanitation and hygiene for teachers drawn from three pilot schools in the Kanifing Municipality. [...] The aim of the workshop was to promote sanitation and hygiene education in schools.

Presenting on waste management, Sheikh Omar Dibba, a retired health worker and consultant said teachers should be involved in the promotion of health and hygiene issues in schools because they are important elements in the school and society. [..] Mr. Dibba urged for every house hold to have Dustin including schools and communities so as to reduce health hazards in our environment. He added that teachers at schools should advocate for change at the school level in terms of environment hygiene and sanitation.

[...] Other presenters presented on the issue of hygiene, water management and personal hygiene.

Source: Annia Gaye, Foroyaa, 27 Mar 2009

Uganda, Kibaale District: Schools Get Water Tanks

The Japanese embassy has commissioned 34 rain water harvesting tanks in 13 primary schools in Kibaale district. Speaking at the commissioning of the over sh150m project [...] at Kikangara Primary School, the deputy japanese ambassador to Uganda, Masaki Shiga, said Japan attached great importance to education.

[...] The 34-tank project will benefit over 6,000 pupils in Ncwanga, Kisengwe, Nyansimbi, Bukungwe, Mabugu, Kihemba, Bweranyange, Kyaterekera Parents’, Pacwa, Kigaaza, Mutagata, Bujogoro and Kikangara primary schools.
Shiga explained that acquiring education not only required classrooms and teachers but also water as a key resource to enhance a good learning environment for the children. “It is more significant to support young districts like Kibaale where poverty is still high and access to clean water is a problem,” noted Shiga.

Source: Ismael Kasooha, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 19 Feb 2009

Uganda: access to water as a constraint to educational gender equality

Kakuru, M.K.and Suzan, M.. (2008). Access to water as a constraint to educational gender equality in rural Uganda. Paper presented at: 15th International Conference on Learning, University of Illinios, Chicago, USA, 3-6 June 2008

This study examines why gender inequalities persist despite deliberate efforts to eradicate them. It focuses on the interaction between school and household factors in rural Uganda using ethnographic methods. The study discusses how various factors within the pupils’ livelihoods affect their school attendance as an aspect of gender equality. It presents findings on access to water as a constraint to gender equality in a free primary education program. The findings show that, there is a general lack of piped water supply and households depend on their own labour to collect water. The need for water intervenes more with girls’ schooling than that of boys due to the nature of patriarchal norms and values. This article concludes that the provision of tuition fees and other supply side-based interventions to achieve gender equality may not be successful if they are implemented in ignorance of pupils’ livelihood situations. Water is a basic human need whose supply must be guaranteed before all children can benefit meaningfully from Universal Primary Education.

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Read a newspaper article based on the study