Hygiene Promotion - IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

green and with contaminated water red and encourages users to use only green pumps fordrinking water. This is harder than it seems because green pumps may be at a greaterdistance, in another neighbourhood and/or belong to another household or households.Sharing is further complicated by greater crowding, longer waiting, more wear and tear andmore frequent breakdowns, and differences in class and castes.Frequently washing of children’s eyesSkin and eye infections are especially common in arid areas. Both have health as well associo-economic consequences. Washing more often can greatly reduce their spread. Arestricting factor is that where water is scarce, using it frugally is a value, a norm and ahabit. Young mothers who start washing their children’s faces more often risk to becriticised by mothers-in-law, other women and husbands for ‘wasting’ water. A trachomaprevention programme in Tanzania used children’s face washing competitions for mothers,mothers-in-laws and fathers to learn through practice that much less water was neededthan thought. With one litre of water, mothers managed to wash 30-35 faces of children,fathers 12 (McCauley et al., 1990, 1992).Social marketing for handwashing in Central AmericaA handwashing promotion programme in Guatemala found that parents saw clean childrenas more attractive and happier. Handwashing was considered good, but enabling factorswere lacking. Soap, water and towels were scattered. Handwashing placed demands onmothers’ scarce time and energy and the family’s resources. Mothers were interested inhygiene education. They wanted short sessions and information materials in their ownlanguage and Spanish. Approval from fathers was crucial because they objected to higherwater bills.The project introduced a ‘happy corner’ for handwashing in the home and spreadinformation to mothers on proper ways of washing hands. Fathers and children had ownmessages to reinforce the desired behaviours (Booth & Hurtado, 1992). In a secondcampaign, a catalyst (in this case a bilateral project) brought together the governments(which wanted to reduce diarrhoeas) with the private sector (the soap companies) in fivecountries. The campaign promoted proper practices (1:washing both hands 2:with soap3:rubbing at least three times 4: dry with a clean towel) at critical times (1:before foodpreparation 2: before eating 3: after toilet use 4: after cleaning babies’ bottoms).Targeted were mothers in rural areas with low levels of education and socioeconomicstatus having children under five and primary schoolchildren from these families. Radioand television spots were the main media. In the evaluation, one in every three peoplecould recall the campaign. This was less for rural and indigenous groups. In the beforeafterstudy in Guatemala, with an estimated outreach to 1,5 million children alone, theability to mention all critical times and demonstrate the four proper practices increased by10%., especially in urban areas. Again, a ‘dedicated place’ for handwashing supportedgood practice. Changes in the other countries were more modest (Saadé et al., 2001).84 Hygiene promotion