In April 2022, our indigenous partner NGO, South Sudan Health Association (SSUHA) launched our latest Hygiene is in Your Hands project. The participatory WASH project aims to improve the health and socio-economic well-being of Kupera communities by reducing the incidences of water and sanitation related diseases through sustainable safe water, sanitation, and hygiene practices. Focused on sustainable, safe, localised water supply and hygiene approaches, the project will reach more than 70 water user communities to benefit the lives of more than 20,000 people. Read more about the project’s progress and our latest updates.
Project objectives and updates:
1) Increased access to sustainable, safe water and environmental sanitation for poor and vulnerable communities
The project has provided one-day refresher training to four hand pump mechanics to provide communities with knowledge to repair the 10 identified boreholes within the Korobe and Mundu bomas. SSUHA also provided an assortment of borehole parts and borehole repair toolkit which are being stored centrally so that the communities can access them when required. To date, 10 boreholes have been repaired, six in Korobe and four in Mundu boma. This has successfully increased access to clean and safe water.
2) Reduced prevalence of WASH-related diseases, including COVID19, trachoma, Guinea worm, and diarrheal diseases, through promotion of personal hygiene and environmental practices
COVID19
The project Home Health Promoters have conducted awareness raising on COVID-19 prevention as well as prevention of other water borne diseases to 43 participants, including women and children, in Mundu and Korobe bomas. The message shared was how to prevent COVID-19 and other water related diseases through hand washing, the importance of wearing face masks, maintaining social distance and reporting of suspected cases. Methods used included equal participation and sharing of experiences.
Awareness creation on waterborne diseases
The Home Health Promoters and the hand pump mechanics conducted community sensitization on good hygiene and sanitation focusing on the effects of open defecation and drinking of dirty water that exposes them to water borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea. A total of 95 people (including 34 women, 29 men, 18 girls and 14 boys) attended the sessions.
The purpose of the sessions was to support the communities to share the problems they face and collectively identify solutions. The methods used included open discussion, testimonies and Q&A sessions.
Home visits
The Home Health Promoters conducted home visits to 22 households in Mundu boma where a total of 147 (35 women, 29 men, 32 girls and 51 boys) participants were reached. The topics discussed included waterborne diseases which often cause deaths among the children within the communities.
In Korobe boma, a total of 19 households were visited with a combine total participant of 136 (18 females, 29 males, 29 children, 42 girls and 18 boys). The topics discussed were; the importance of pit latrine, rubbish pits, keeping compounds clean, drying racks and hand washing containers. The methods used included house to house visits, one-to-one discussions and gathering community members into smaller groups.
School Health
One school visit was conducted to sensitize school children on the importance of using pit latrines and hand washing after visiting pit latrine. A total of 30 children attended the sessions.
Next steps
SSUHA supported by HCSS continues to implement the project and we will provide further updates on our progress in the coming months.