Nakasongola is amongst the poorest districts in Uganda. Located in the epicenter of President Museveni’s liberation war of 1980-86, the community has suffered great economic and social decline.
Unreliable rainfall in the area has lead to low food production and limited access to safe water. And, with only 46% of pit latrines across the district, and very few health centers, it is not surprising that 36% of children are affected by malnutrition and poor health.
Along with all these challenges facing the community, poor hygiene is leading to numerous diarrhea related deaths. Schools face difficulties promoting proper hygiene because they lack the infrastructure.
AMREF's research into schools in Nakasongola show there are few water tanks for students to access clean water, and that teachers and pupils have little awareness of good hygiene and sanitation practices. In addition, the majority of schools do not have hand washing facilities, garbage pits or safe facilities for students to store their lunches.
Children in Nakasongola district are also forced to walk for hours to fetch water, often unsafe for drinking. Long hours spent walking, and days spent fighting infection, impact children’s ability to attend and perform at school.
AMREF is:
Implementing PHASE (Personal Hygiene & Sanitation Education). A simple but life-saving educational programme for school children. PHASE teaches children the importance of hand washing, and other hygiene practices, to improve their overall health and well-being.
Research conducted by AMREF in Kenya, found children are very susceptible to infections such as cholera, diarrhea and ring worm because of their under-developed immune systems. In Kenya, which has very similar health indicators to Uganda, children account for 70% of people effected by diarrhea-related diseases. This often leads to children missing school and affects their overall grades.
With help from the Kenyan ministries of health and education, these findings have resulted in the integration of PHASE into the Kenyan national primary school curriculum.
AMREF's PHASE pilot project in Soroti district in Uganda is so extremely successful that we are now replicating in Nakasangola.
PHASE focuses on providing personal hygiene education; improving water sources to ensure provision of safe and adequate water for school children; improving and developing sanitation infrastructure which includes building pit latrines, urinals, soak pits and refuse pits to facilitate acceptable standards of hygiene within the school environment; development of a mechanism for safeguarding food, building hand washing facilities and promoting the use of protective garments such as shoes or sandals.
Beyond Africa
The success of the PHASE pilot has been seen as far as South America and Asia, with the program being replicated in Nicaragua, Peru and Bangladesh.
Major Project Funders:
Lundin for Africa Foundation
Find out more about AMREF's work with children and programs in:
Ethiopia
Kenya
South Africa
Southern Sudan
Tanzania
