Poor sanitation in Indonesia hits kids hard

Jan 27, 2011 – Changing a mindset is easier said than done.

In Indonesia, public awareness of the importance of hygiene remains low. About 30 percent of the total population of about 240 million, for example, still practice open defecation, according to government figures.

Experts point out that insufficient sanitation management and poor awareness of hygiene practices have led to preventable diseases, and children are among those affected most.

About 18.6 percent of children in Indonesia suffer from malnutrition and diseases such as respiratory infections and diarrhea, according to MercyCorps, a nongovernmental organization working to reduce urban poverty.

Mercy Corps and ESI Design Launch Significant Global Video Field Dispatch Program to Support Aid Projects

NEW YORK, NY — 06/04/08 — Mercy Corps, a global relief and development agency, and ESI Design, a world leader in experience design, today announced the launch of an intensive development phase for possibly the first broad-scale video field dispatch program by a major non-governmental organization (NGO). Produced with inexpensive off-the-shelf technologies (like webcams and digital cameras), dispatches will improve awareness in the U.S. about progress achieved by aid projects in countries such as Sudan, Congo, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Ethiopia through the unfiltered, previously unheard voices of relief workers and aid beneficiaries.

Read More – Earth Times