What is UNICEF "WASH" project ?


It is so important that good sanitation and hygiene is implemented in schools because it is a key place of learning for children and therefore can become a model of good practice and therefore create an influence on children which could lead to better practitices being implemented in the community and at home UNICEF (1998). 

 In Africa using data from 13 studies  it was found that only 14 % of people wash their hands after going to the toilet with soap. It is estimated that washing your hands helps reduce diarrhoea disease by 40 % Freeman Mc 2014. Getting people to wash their hands is really important as it has shown to really help reduce cases of diarrhoea disease.

What is WASH all about ??

 Its a term for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene each is dependent on each other and is focused at meeting these basic needs for millions of people. "Wash" is a project by Unicef and is active in around 100 countries, in 2013 £ 258 million was used for development programs www.unicef.org

 The aim is to help achieve WASH for everyone by 2030, they are helping to find new easier ways to access safe water and reduce the need for people to have to walk long distances. They also want to end the practice of open defecation and get the community to work together to build/maintain toilets. Finally they want to help improve hygiene, going back to my point at the start try and get children to be educated in good hygiene practices such as washing their hands with soap after going to the toilet. Unicef.org/wash 
Schools are so important as it is found that children learn key hygiene practices from schools, this is hard to teach by teachers if schools don't have running water, clean toilets and no soap Adams J et al 2009

 Below is a great clip about how UNICEF and their WASH project are want to help improve hygiene in schools.


How is Hand-washing promoted by UNICEF

- Mass media campaigns
- Use of national celebrities
- In 2013 300 million people reached
- Messages sent to promote by SMS
- Hand-washing promoted in schools
- SOPO two year hygiene promotion "did you wash your hands" advertisement - read more click here
Sources - www.unicef.org

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