I visit many of Concern’s programmes and see that many simple WASH solutions can improve people’s lives. WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
The “W” can mean drilling a borehole and installing a hand pump that takes water from deep underground so that it cannot be contaminated from animal or human poo; or installing a structure to take and treat water coming from an underground spring. Where something technical like this is not possible, small water purification tablets can treat the water, killing all the bacteria and keeping it clean.
The “S” means making sure that people use a safe, clean latrine to do their business – and supporting people to build their own household latrine. If they do their business in the open, which may be their only choice, their poo could wash into the river or open well, from where they collect their water –contaminating it even more. Likewise, flies that land on their poo may then fly onto their food before they eat it, making them sick.
Finally, the “H” means making sure that hygiene and specifically handwashing practices are correct – making sure that people understand why they should wash their hands, that they actually DO wash their hands, but also that they have the means to be able to do this properly with water and soap. Washing hands properly after going to the toilet cleans the bacteria from hands so that the bacteria do not then transfer to the food that they eat.
It may seem simple to us. You may read this thinking ‘of course, we’ve known these practices since primary school’. But for people without access to education, clean water or sanitation systems, how would they know? We do these things - washing our hands, drinking clean water - every day, without giving them much of a second thought, especially not the thought that they are keeping us alive and healthy. But they are. And this is something we should remember this World Toilet Day. And it is why we are working tirelessly to teach these practices and provide others with clean water so that they don’t have to make the impossible choice: drink dirty water, or no water at all.
John Heelham
WASH Engineering Advisor