Providing clean water to communities
What
Ny Tanintsika works to ensure that all communities have access to clean water, either through gravitational water systems, wells fitted with hand pumps, spring-capping improvements or (at the very least) the provision of water-treatment products. Ny Tanintsika's spring-capping work (building protective concrete casing around springs to keep them clean and implementing erosion-prevention measures around them) has been supported by the Rotary Club, and we are currently working with USAID’s Hygiene Improvement Program (HIP) in four rural areas of the Haute Matsiatra region. Action is centred around the promotion of the three main WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) messages, essential in reducing diarrhoel disease :
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Hand-washing with soap or a soap subsitute (such as ash).
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Use of hygienic latrines.
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Ensuring the potability of water, from the source until its use in the household.
Why
Diarrhoeal diseases are still a major cause of sickness and death in Madagascar, and this is largely due to drinking dirty or contaminated water.
Results
Many rural communities have experienced decreases in disease and sickness because of our work with the provision of drinking water systems, and through educational programmes related to the prevention of diarrhoel disease. 6 villages have been supplied with gravitational water supply systems, and 2 villages with hand pumps. Since we started working with HIP, in December 2007, 100 community health educators have been trained in communication techniques to promote behaviour change related to water, sanitation and hygiene. Local masons have also been trained to build hygienic cement latrines using the ‘sanplat’ model, and a hygiene competition has been launched with primary schools and local health centres.