Health for Schoolchildren and Their Families

Two out of three people in Burkina Faso have access to clean drinking water today. This surprising number shows a pleasing development. Equally surprising - but unpleasant - is the fact that four out of five people have no access to a latrine. They have to do their business outside in the fields or in the bushes, and they are often unaware that they endanger the health of their village community.

This is particularly pronounced in the province of Gnagna. There, even nine out of ten people have no latrine. To change that, Helvetas and local experts turn children into ambassadors for hygiene. At school they see and use a latrine for the first time and learn to wash their hands regularly. At home they talk about the newly built latrine, washing hands, soap, microbes and how to keep water clean.

Helvetas supports the so-called Écoles Bleues and their hygiene education. The children who are goiing to school here are also ambassadors for a better future. Because clean water and hygiene are a fundamental condition for a society to develop. In Burkina, 89 out of every 1,000 children die before they are five years old. In addition, there are those children who do not develop properly because of diarrhea, adults who can not do their jobs because they are ill. A good part of the illnesses could be prevented with sanitation and hygiene education. In the project Laafia - which means "health" - every year 1200 children and their families in 15 villages benefit from this change to better living conditions.

Under the project, government officials will receive guidance on how to plan and promote latrine construction. Private providers are sensitized to offer good products at fair prices. In the meantime, authorities and other development organizations are interested in the Écoles Bleues and in the concept of turning children into health ambassadors.

The project is supported by a generous donation of 'Together for Africa'.

Here you can find more Information about the Work of the Helvetas Network: