Sanitation Updates

HA NOI — A lack of toilets and hand-washing facilities in homes and at schools seriously affects the health of children in rural Viet Nam, said UN Resident Co-ordinator in Viet Nam John Hendra.

A new nationwide survey conducted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the UN Children’s Fund on sanitation and hygiene, concluded 88 per cent of 966 rural schools surveyed have latrines that fail to meet the standards set by the Ministry.

Students in more than a quarter of rural schools have to defecate in forests, gardens, fields or along beaches, streams and rivers, the survey reports, creating health risks and environmental concerns.

Read More - VNS

World Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22. This annual event offers an opportunity to highlight the necessity to do more to bring access to clean water and appropriate sanitation to more than a billion people who still lack access to basic water supply. We asked Uli Jaspers, Head of the Water and Sanitation Unit at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva to explain why bringing better water and sanitation facilities is so essential. Question: 2008 has been made the “Year of Sanitation” by the United Nations. Why is it so crucial to mobilize the international community and promote better access to sanitation? Answer: Poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five every year.

Read More - Reuters

The possibility of children and adults infected with viral Hepatitis spreading the disease to others without even being aware that they are suffering from the disease is very real, Epidemiology Unit’s consultant epidemiologist Dr. Risintha Premaratne said. According to Dr. Premaratne a patient exposed to the virus takes about a month to show symptoms of the disease and during that period the patient might unknowingly be instrumental in spreading the disease.

“Most affected are children. Even at schools, work places and the neighbourhood there may be people carrying the infection but showing no symptoms. By next week or the week the number of patients may well increase. So it is important to take all possible preventive methods immediately” he said.

Encouraging children to eat home-cooked food, keep cooked food covered, use soap to wash hands before and after meals and after use of the toilet, avoid eating exposed food, drink only boiled water (the virus may be present in pipe-borne and well water), keep toilets clean, avoid eating green leaves/leafy vegetables, maintain a house free of flies, avoid eating food from boutiques, disposing of all faeces even that of an infant, into a toilet, well-washed fruits and vegetables, a piece of soap should be sent to school encouraging children to wash their hands before and after using the toilet and before and after eating are some of the precautions that health officials advise everybody should adopt.

Read More - The Sunday Times Online

A paper reporting on two cohort studies which looked at the effect of a city-wide sanitation programme on rates of childhood diarrhoea in northeast Brazil has been shortlisted for the Lancet Paper of the Year Award 2007.

The paper, from a team including DCVBU’s Professor Sandy Cairncross and colleagues from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, reveals how diarrhoea prevalence in children under 3 in the areas studied fell by more than a fifth following a drive to improve sewerage coverage from 26% of households to 80%. The findings show how important urban sanitation is as a health measure and provide timely support for the launch of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation.

The paper was highlighted in Science magazine on 8 February, and the team who produced it were personally congratulated by the Brazilian Minister of Health, Jose Gomes Temporao.

The Lancet award will go to the paper that, in the view of the International Advisory Board, has made the greatest potential contribution to clinical research in the past year.

Medical Research News - Feb 18, 2007

Sanitation is an essential component of healthy childcare. However, young children do not have good sanitation habits. Germs may abound not only on the toilet seat and flush handle, but also on the sink, trash can lids, and door handles. Children contact germs on their hands, and then spread them from their hands to their mouths as well as to toys and other children. Many diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis E, typhoid fever, and giardiasis are spread through the fecal/oral route.

Proper hand-washing is the first step in sanitation and disease prevention. Teach children how to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and running water. Adults also should wash their hands after assisting children with toileting.

Read More - Morning Express