Children taught handwashing to fight cholera in Zambia

Schoolchildren in Zambia where there is a high risk of Cholera are being taught to wash their hands in a new push to prevent the disease. Last year, nearly two-thirds of the country’s 7,000 cholera cases were in Lusaka, the poor neighbourhoods in the capital, where more than 1 million people live. Now, as the rainy season approaches, raising the threat of the waterborne disease, which sickens thousands, every year, a new campaign is being rolled out to teach children good hygiene.

The work of the government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) the ‘Your Life is in Your Hands’ message is being pumped out in the most high risk areas of Lusaka. The drive hopes to hammer the message home through town-hall meetings for school children, events in schools, on the radio, and with a cartoon character called Sopo.

Cholera is an infectious disease that can trigger violent diarrhoea within only a few days. The dangerous part of cholera is the vast amount of fluid in a very short space of time. Because of this, it's particularly dangerous in children in developing countries. Improved hygiene and water systems are the basic weapons in the fight against cholera.

Lusaka’s district commissioner Christah Kalulu spoke to more than 2,000 elementary students about changing their attitudes and behaviours regarding health and hygiene. “Hygiene is about you,” she said launching the campaign at Kanyama Basic School. “All of you should make sure that you practice good habits of washing your hands with soap before you place your hands on food, after visiting the toilet and even after playing. You never know what germs you may have encountered.” ‘Your Life is in Your Hands’ tries to encourage schoolchildren to wash their hands with soap at four key times of day: before eating, before preparing food, after using the toilet and after changing nappies. The campaign is aimed at both younger and older children with performances by the traditional drama group Banja and a popular young Zambian entertainer known as Popo.

And the strategy seems to be working. Ernest Kalyati, 14, a student at the school, was eager to teach others what he had learned about hygiene during the campaign launch.
“I have learned so much today, especially on how to prevent cholera, and I will make sure to share this information,” he said, “because I, too, know many of our own pupils who have had cholera before.”

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children