Background

Poor sanitation and hygiene is a cross-cutting health concern in all rural Ugandan villages.  Poor sanitation leads to diarrheal diseases, which are responsible for 17% of all deaths of children under five (WHO). Poor personal and household hygiene may lead to trachoma, increased rate of infections, and any number of other diseases.  A compound with excess brush around it, or sitting water, will become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and increase malaria rates not just for the family in the compound, but for their neighbors as well.

Education

We educate our village communities about the importance of household hygiene, personal hygiene and sanitation.  Our summer volunteer teams hold village outreaches about the importance of sanitation and hygiene, or work information about sanitation and hygiene into other outreaches; for instance, having a clean compound with cleared brush and no stagnant water helps to prevent the existence of mosquitoes that bring malaria.  For those who are HIV-positive, habits of personal and household hygiene can mean the difference between life or death.  Community Based Organizations (CBOs) brought into villages to do educational performances often address issues of sanitation and hygiene, also.

Many summer volunteer teams hold outreaches at schools, encouraging children to adopt personal habits of hygiene, and to help their schools and their families adopt small sanitation measures like having ‘tippy-taps’ outside of latrines.  A few schools formed ‘Sanitation Clubs’ during Summer 2009, which UVP continues to support and work with through-out the year.

Latrine Coverage

Our 70 Healthy Villages were chosen partially on basis of having very poor latrine coverage, a condition that increases the prevalence of cholera, dysentery, worms, and many other diarrheal diseases.  Partnering with the Jinja Diocesan Development Coordinating Office (JIDDECO), sub-county government officials and our Village Health Teams (VHTs), we are now beginning an innovative campaign to increase latrine coverage in our villages.  This campaign involves four steps:

• We hold a massive Music, Dance and Drama (MDD) event in the village, using a local drama group to portray the problems associated with not having a latrine.  At this event, a local government official addresses the village on the importance of increasing latrine coverage, and a UVP staff member introduces the UVP/JIDDECO latrine campaign plan.
• We divide the village into groups, each centered around a Village Health Team household. These groups work together to help one another improve existing latrines, or dig latrines for those families without.
• JIDDECO provides certain subsidized materials for groups who are working together well, incentivizing the process.
• After the village has greatly improved its latrine coverage (the target percentage varies by village, according to original conditions), UVP helps the village to construct a second shallow well.

Give a gift to support our latrine construction and sanitation programs!