Improving wash essential for keeping girls in school

Celebrated annually on October 15, Global Handwashing Day was founded by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing, and is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times.

The first Global Handwashing Day was held in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since 2008, community and national leaders have used Global Handwashing Day to spread the word about handwashing, build sinks and tippy taps, and demonstrate the simplicity and value of clean hands.

Each year, over 200 million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the world. Global Handwashing Day is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organisations, NGOs, private companies, and individuals.

The 2016 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Make Handwashing a Habit!” For handwashing to be effective it must be practiced consistently at key times, such as after using the toilet or before contact with food. While habits must be developed over time, this theme emphasizes the importance of handwashing as a ritual behaviour for long-term sustainability.

Habit formation is currently a hot topic in behaviour change and the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector. This theme taps into that interest and is also a gateway to discussing what the sector knows about how habits are formed.

Reports have it that up to one third of deaths in children under-five years in Tanzania are related to poor hygiene. This includes nearly 20 per cent of under-five deaths due to preventable diarrhoea totalling nearly five children every hour, as well as deaths among newborns and due to respiratory illness.

Hand washing with soap, alone, has the highest impact on reducing disease transmission, including diarrhoea, lowering the condition by about 47 per cent. However, awareness about the importance of hygiene practices, especially hand washing with soap, is low.

Sanitation has the second highest impact on reducing diarrhoea, decreasing the impact by about 36 percent. Nevertheless, access to safe drinking water and to improved toilets that can be kept clean continues to constrain Tanzania’s ability to adequately address the under-five child mortality rate.

In addition, limited access to adequate wash services is hampering national efforts to eradicate malnutrition, stunting and others.

Children spend a significant amount of time in and around their schools. Inadequate water supply and sanitation facilities, not only are a health hazard, but also affect school attendance, retention and educational performance.

National data shows that on average there is only one pit latrine for every 56 children in primary schools (both public and private), yet there are sharp regional differences and differences between government and private schools.

Government primary schools in Dar es Salaam, the nation’s largest city, are especially poorly served with ministry of education data showing only one latrine for 215 boys and 187 girls.

Improving wash in schools is essential for keeping girls in school, and ensuring their right to education. Poor attendance often translates into poor performance, and students who perform poorly are more likely to drop out early from school.