From: waled mahmud
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 7:47 AM

Dear All,

UNICEf, WHO, WaterAid Bangladesh and other organizations are promoting to use soap in our country as a part of hygiene practice; it would prevent health from contamination and water borne diseases. Water is almost available in this part of the world; using paper after defecation is not at all practicing in our country rather water is using as the essential cleaning component. On the otherside, considering the weather condition of our country, moisture percentage is extremely high (above 85%), which is harmful for bacterial formation. Therefore, using soap should be promoted for confirming hygiene practice here in our country. The weather condition and social practice is different in USA. So, promoting hygiene practice components would be different from one geological areas to others and it should be area specific. Thanks,

Waledmahmud
WaSH Specialist, Consultant
Executive Director
Knowledge Discovery

From: Rebecca Stott
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2012 12:49 PM

Thanks Bob for the lead. This is of much interest and a useful issue to discuss in our planning for a new WASH project we have in the pacific islands.

The article in question is
Hand decontamination: influence of common variables on hand-washing efficiency
Healthcare Infection, 2011, 16, 18–23

It can be found at the following website:
www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HI10027

Rebecca


Rebecca Stott
Environmental Health
Aquatic Pollution Group

NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research)
PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand
www.niwa.co.nz
www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/pacific-rim/research-projects

From: Halimatu Massaquoi
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 5:08 PM

Hi Mr. Mughal,
Thanks very much for these document on latrines you shared. I think we are not the only ones in need of them. Am sure you are going to receive a lot of thanks for this sharing.
Once more a big THANK YOU.

hALIMA

From: Halimatu Massaquoi
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 3:50 PM

May be he didn’t mean that. Because there is nowhere in the world where soap is not important in hand washing. the only problem with soap is the affordability. Some people cannot afford to buy soap while they go hungry.

Halima

From: MICHAEL MADUNDA
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 3:07 PM

Dear, Mr Mughal,
Thanks for your documents sending to me also ma Organisation
CEMDO-Tanzania,
Michael Madunda
Executive Director
CEMDO-Tanzania

From: Gigi Pomerantz
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 11:56 PM

When soap is NOT available, ash or sand may be used to provide friction, as it is the friction and rinsing that removes most contaminants. The only method that is really bacteriacidal is hand-sanitizer made with alcohol.
Most people do not rub hard or long enough in any case.

Gigi Pomerantz
YOUTHAITI
www.youthaiti.org

From: Robert Lang
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 11:14 PM

The problem with both electric and non electric drying is that people tend to rub their hands together. This is very bad since the result is they actually grind the bacteria into the pores thereby increasing infection. The best drier is the Dyson Airblade www.dysonairblade.com/ since it uses very high speed wind to literally blow the water and loose dirt right off the hands very fast.

From: Cess Warero [This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2012 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Wg7] Getting School WASH Right

Dear all,
Thank you all for sharing your experiences with school WASH. My experience with school WASH in Kenya has been varied and very interesting indeed:

Availability of Water:
Kenya is a water scarce country with over 80% being Arid and Semi-Arid Lands with infrequent rains and high temperatures; populations living in these areas suffer a chronic lack of water even for basic needs let alone to supply water to the schools. many schools send children to rivers or nearby water "sources" - dry river beds, shallow wells for cooking the school lunches- often the only meal the child will have for the whole day!! or they are required to carry jerricans or water when coming from home - the challenges are many and the water very dirty and brown where found.

Availabity of Soap/ toilet paper:
WB Studies have shown that most households rural and urban, do have soap in the home but primarily for washing clothes and dishes. None is made available for handwashing, the common practice in most homes is for people to wash their hands with Soap AFTER the meal (to remove oil) but rarely before meals.
In some schools where water is the acceptable mode of cleaning BUT the commodity is scarce, students use stones, sticks, maize cobs and soil for anal cleansing. These may serve the purpose but reduces the life of the pit latrines which fill up very fast.

Student:latrine ratio:
Most schools have no latrines where these exist they are too few in number e.g. 1 latrine for upto 300 pupils, leaving the obvious option of dashing off to the bushes or defeacating behind the latrines etc.

Culture / habits/ habitat:
Most children in the rural areas especially ASALs have grown up with the practice of rising up early in the morning and going for "for a walk" to the bush to do their "ablutions". Homes are sparsely distributed with alot of idle, unoccuppied land. The same habits are therefore carried to the schools. It is imperative that parents/ communities are brought on board with the School WASH programmes.

Urban and Peri-urban vs Rural schools:
Urban schools vary in characteristic depending on the location and the "affluence"/ Class of the school. Slum schools often suffer the indignity of lack of water supply to the school besides the overcrowded conditions, exposure is also a factor. in some schools awareness is high, facilties are available parents required to sent children with toilet paper and soap at the beginning of the school term.

School management:
Existence and awareness of the school fraternity especially the school managment committees responsible for allocation of funds. As well as the school heads' leadership and vision: some use the scarce resources at their disposal to improve the children's lot through innovative ways e.g. girls' urinals.
O/M plans: structures, cleaning and maintenacne of the facilities have to be budgeted for, responsibilities allocated and plans put in place AND implemented.
Fencing to prevent kids from sneaking out to the bushes.

Many schools visited seemed to just "abandon" filled up latrines and sometimes move the "super structure" without due consideration of the gaping holes that pose a grave danger.

These are just but a few of the issues pertainng to SWASH

I look forward to sharing and participating in more discussions.

Kind regards,

Dr. Cecilia Warero

P.S: temperatures in the ASAL areas go upto and beyond 40 degrees at the solstice and faeces dry up very fast. Is it possible that the bacteria and viruses are killed in these temps and therefore the risk of contamination/disease spread through contact and/ or dispersal of faecal matter is reduced?
How effective is the sun's U.V. rays and temperature effective in "sterilising" the faeces?
If the sun can be used in SODIS (Solar Disinfection of Water) How much more then are its action on the faeces in these areas with extreme temperatures for months on end?
Anyone willing and interested to partner in a study?

Dear Mr. Daouda,

Here is the third one of 12 MB.

Enjoy,

F H Mughal

From: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.] On Behalf Of FH Mughal
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 7:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Wg7] Getting School WASH Right

Dear Mr. Daouda,

Attached are 2 publications on latrine construction.

Happy reading!

Regards,

F H Mughal (Mr.)

Rieck, Christian GIZ
Thu Mar 8 14:45:29 CET 2012

Dear all,
Thank you for the valid points made on handwashing. From what I know children should not use towels for hand drying in schools since this is a point of contamination. Ideally paper towels are most hygienic but far too costly in most situations. Drying the hands in the air (by shaking and waging hands) should be the right behavior. If children learn this during their daily routine of hand washing they will continue practicing it. This is also promoted in the Philippines during the daily group handwashing routines (Fit For School) and seems to work well.

The other issue mentioned was on anal cleaning with water or paper. It certainly depends on religion or sometimes regions and if water is available or not. In general I would think that anal cleansing with water is more hygienic considering the fact that people naturally have water also available for handwashing and usually do it also as a habit (e.g. India). If with soap or not I do not know, however Mugal as mentioned soap is used. This would mean that handwashing with soap in Muslim countries is less of a problem that in other cultures? Is that so?

Many cultures also have the concept of left and right hand, whereby they always use the same hand for washing or wiping and always use the other hand for eating or shaking hands. That is a very effective way to prevent spread of diseases.

Since anal washing depends on the culture and religion, it cannot be forced upon other cultures or religions that are used to wiping. If people cannot afford to buy toilet paper, they use leaves, newspaper or other materials for wiping. Without handwashing this method of anal cleansing surely bears more health risks than anal washing.

@ Ikem: What many practioners have realized over the years is that hygiene education has only little impact on behaviours if it is not accompanied at the same time with exercising it (skills). Was there also a strong component of practical handwashing in Benin?
@ Omotola: Please see the infos given in the emails below (links to Fit For School) and the website of washinschoolsmapping with valuabe infos.

Best regards,
Christian

wisdom
Thu Mar 8 11:49:56 CET 2012

Hi everybody,

I think cleaning using water might work well when this practice is already
in use.

In our country, Moldova, there are many Ecological sanitation facilities
implemented in schools and during our monitoring visits we also have
observed that after the project is finalized not all the schools provide
the hygienic facilities, simple because they do not have enough funds for
this. But I think that this could be solved with involvement of parents. I
can only judge from how responsible are the parents for providing toilet
paper, soap and tissues for small children (kindergarten) as there is a
strong demand from educators and I do not know why during schools they
already become irresposible, as the children still need these materials for
their hygiene. The school does not demand it so strongly, why it should be.
Probable the shared costs (that everyone is taking responsibility for his
own child health) is more effective and cheaper than looking for extra
costs for schools. At least I know that people do prefer to spend money on
mobile calls, rather than thinking of hygiene.

Kind regards,
Nadia Andreev